Voldemort won. Hogwarts is a ruin and the Wizarding World has been taken over by the New World Order led by the Dark Lord and his team of Death Eaters. It has been two and a half years since the 2nd May 1998 and the world is getting more and more dangerous for The Order by the day. Our heroes must defeat Voldemort once and for all.
This series is inspired by and based off of the Death Eater Propaganda series made by Tumblr user Pragmatique ( tagged/Death+Eater+Propaganda). So go and check those out, because they are absolutely beautiful pieces of work. I also don't own Harry Potter, obviously. If I did, Dramione would be canon.
Hermione woke to the sound of footsteps above her. She checked her watch, four hours of sleep and it appeared she was going to have to get on the move again. She gathered her things, listening to the sounds of spells being cast above her, furniture toppling over in the mad dash to try and find her.
How had they found her here? She was staying in a poky flat in Muggle London, no bigger than two rooms and a bathroom squeezed into the back of a house. It had only been two days. She had to act fast, she put the last book in her bag and quickly apparated out to pastures anew.
Her vision swam, years of apparating and she still didn't particularly like it. She was in a field on the outskirts of Sherwood Forest; Hermione didn't know why she had thought of it. Perhaps it had been that she had been reading The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood before she had fallen asleep. There was silence, something she didn't hear very often these days.
Two and a half years had passed since the 2nd May 1998 when Harry Potter had been defeated. She would never forget that moment, watching as Voldemort's spell got closer and closer to Harry before finally knocking him off his feet.
They'd had to act quickly, nobody had spoken they'd just began to apparate away as the Death Eater's had begun to cheer, she and Ron had grabbed Harry and gone to Shell Cottage.
In many ways it felt like that day was yesterday, but so much had happened since then that at the same time she couldn't remember what her life had been like before. Had there really been a time when her biggest worries had been getting expelled from Hogwarts? When she had been a normal witch teenager studying for her O.W.L.'s?
They were lucky Harry hadn't died, he'd been in a coma for a long time. Everyone had gone underground, sneaking around, living in unregistered homes, holiday residences that were empty, sometimes sleeping on the streets of Muggle cities. All it took was one person; one flicker of recognition and the snatchers and Death Eater Army (DEA) would be on to you. She had narrowly escaped capture several times.
It had been months since she'd heard from Harry or Ron, she had no idea if they were together or separated as well, she and Neville had met a few weeks beforehand in an alley during which they had both passed on what little information they knew after affirming it was really them. Harry had been hiding out in Paris when he had been spotted by one of the Greengrass girls, and nobody had heard from him since then, she didn't know if that was still the case.
She made her way into the forest, careful to avoid any of the commonly used paths. It was late September but that didn't mean there wouldn't be people around at this time of year and she could do with not being seen, even by a muggle.
Hermione came upon a small log cabin, set quite a bit away from any of the wider country trails and decided take the opportunity. She knew there were log cabins here for holiday guests to rent out for a couple of weeks at a time and it appeared this one was unoccupied. The windows were dark, the place looked more abandoned than anything else. She made her way to the door, careful to look over her shoulders and make sure she wasn't followed. "Alohamora." She whispered after pulling out her wand, it wasn't her usual one, that had been lost during the Battle of Hogwarts, this was one she had picked up in the wreck of Ollivander's and been using since. It didn't feel the same as her old one but it worked fine.
The lock clicked open and she pushed the door aside, moving in and closing it behind her. Now she was truly alone. The log cabin was small; there was a kitchen area and a couch with two armchairs around a fireplace, a circular wooden dining table and two chairs, and some rickety old stairs that led up to a mezzanine containing a double bed. The bathroom, she assumed was behind the small door that she could see underneath the mezzanine. It would do for the time being.
She drew all curtains to block out the daylight, although an overcast autumnal day in England meant there wasn't much daylight to begin with, and cast an incendio into the fireplace to give the place some warmth. She wouldn't stay long, just a day or two and then she would move on. It didn't do well to stay in the same place for any great length of time, there was always someone on her tail and she had to ensure she remained ten steps ahead. They scoured the countryside looking for people like her, people who were part of the 'underground resistance'.
That was what the Death Eaters called The Order. She had seen her own wanted posters, Hermione had felt quite smug with the 'approach with extreme caution' warning.
She searched the kitchen cupboards to see if there had been anything left behind by people passing through, to her luck there were some teabags, and the place came fully equipped with plates, cutlery and cups. She popped the kettle on and made herself some black tea, there wasn't any milk in the fridge and she wouldn't have trusted it if there was. It would likely have been long expired.
"Accio Daily Prophet." She cast into her bag and out flew a Daily Prophet from last week. She had found it on the ground being trampled on whilst rushing through Diagon Alley a few days ago on Order business under a cloak and had been more than happy to take it.
The headline read 'DARK LORD UNVEILS NEW MINISTRY BUILDING' and the picture was of Voldemort, his Undersecretary Lucius Malfoy, and Chief Advisor Bellatrix Lestrange standing outside a grand building and shaking hands with some other officials she didn't immediately recognise. The building itself seemed large, wooden paneled doors that were double-storey height flanked on either side with a column; at the top there was a bust of the Dark Lord himself. Hermione wrinkled her nose in distaste.
She still found little shivers down her spine when she saw the face of her torturer, and her eyes fell on the word carved into her arm for a moment before she took a big gulp of the black tea. It wasn't the most delicious of drinks but beggars could hardly be choosers.
NWONWONWO
Darkness fell, and a noise at the door woke Hermione up. She cursed herself for falling asleep, she hadn't meant to. But weeks of catching a few hours when she could had caught up to her.
The cup had long fallen out of her hand and onto the floor and she picked it up as she got up, rubbing one of her eyes with her free hand. She put it on one of the kitchen worktops before remembering it was in fact a noise that had woken her up and she turned herself warily to the door.
Her hand wavered over her pocket containing her wand as she neared the door, heart racing and ready to hex the person at the other side if necessary. She put her hand on the door handle, took a breath and opened it quickly.
A burst of cold air hit her and her brown eyes fell upon a white horse dancing around the front of the cabin. Ginny's Patronus. A meeting.
She knew where she had to go.
Hermione turned, closed the door and the started to gather her things. She had to make it look like she had never been here; she extinguished the fire, washed the cup and put it away, packed up the newspaper into her bag and opened the curtains. There, now it was exactly as she had found it. "Accio hoodie." She whispered, and her grey hoodie flew out of the bag, she slipped it on. It wouldn't do to be recognised and a cloak was far too conspicuous in Muggle London. She tied back her hair to prevent it from coming out the sides of the hood and apparated away.
The cabin was filled with the loud crack from her apparating and moments later she was standing on North Gower Street, not too far from the University of London. It was a standard quintessential London street, houses with small gardens lined by metal fences built in the Victorian era, lampposts shining circular orange light down onto the pavement and the cars that lined the sides.
There was nobody else around; the street was deserted all but for a cat that crossed the road towards her. Hermione savoured the calm moment; she could hear the sounds of distant traffic. It amazed her that there were people out there who weren't caught up in this, muggles who were living their merry lives completely unaware of what was happing at their very feet. Those who became aware didn't tend to live for very long.
She pulled her hood down, nobody was here after all, and turned to cast the charm to get into their secret quarters when she literally walked into Professor McGonagall and jumped. "Professor!" She gasped, "I didn't… I didn't see you there."
Of course, the cat.
"I hardly think Professor is the right term considering Hogwarts has been destroyed for more than two years." She said, "Please, call me Minerva."
Hermione doubted she would ever be able to call the woman anything other than what she had referred to her during all their time at Hogwarts but she would be willing to try. "Now." Minerva said, "Shall we get on with it?"
She held up her wand and cast the fidelious, slowly the building began to extend and lengthen, revealing another townhouse. It was the same protection spell they'd used at Grimmauld Place before it had been abandoned. Together the two of them walked through the front door into a warm home, Hermione wondered who else had been called if McGonagall was here.
She unzipped the hoodie and took a step forward but before she could get any further Ginny appeared with her wand raised. Hermione was so happy to see her friend but stiffened looking down the wrong end of a wand. "What did I give to you for your eighteenth birthday?" She asked.
"A silver locket in the shape of a heart." Hermione replied, her hand flying up to touch said locket around her neck. Ginny lowered her wand and rushed over, enveloping Hermione in a tight hug. "It's so good to see you."
"You too." Her ginger friend said before giving McGonagall the same test, once she passed and they knew it was her she said, "Professor, I'm glad you could make it."
Hermione watched as Minerva opened her mouth undoubtedly to make the same point she had to Hermione on the street, but she shook her head and decided against it, it would take too much time. "Come through, come through, everyone's here we're just waiting on Ron." She said and led them through. Hermione found herself feeling nervous, coming face to face with her friends for the first time in months.
Ginny's hair was longer than she remembered, but then so was Hermione's; it was difficult to make a hair appointment when you were a wanted criminal. She could hear Harry's laugh and smell some cooking as she was led through to a large dining room where everyone had gathered. The only light in the room was a flickering candle in the centre of the table, which was covered in a spread of sandwiches, pies and sweets that nobody was touching.
"Hermione!" Harry said, rushing over and giving her a tight hug, all her nerves washed away. It was so good to be in the presence of people she cared about.
"Harry, I've missed you." She said hugging him back. "What have you been doing all this time?"
All the Weasley's were here, minus Fred of course, and Neville, Seamus and Dean were sitting to the side talking amongst themselves, it wasn't a full Order meeting by any means but she knew that some people would be difficult to find. "Is Kinglsey coming?" Hermione asked, Ginny shook her head without elaborating.
It took around ten minutes to do the greetings, the hugs, the kisses, the passing of stories and information. She couldn't believe they were all here in one room, god forbid the Death Eaters found them now they'd have them all on a silver plate. "So why have you gathered us all here?" Minerva asked, not wanting to beat around the bush.
"Wait until Ron-" Ginny began to say but then they heard the door, "Oh he's here!"
Ginny went out to greet Ron and presumably test him while everyone caught up. "So where have you been Harry? Last I knew you were in Paris."
"Oh, well… Daphne Greengrass spotted me, I had even grown my hair to my shoulders in the hope it would help disguise me and I was wearing contacts but she did, and within minutes I could see Death Eaters, I apparated out of there and went to Greece. It's so hard to go anywhere in Wizarding England because of the wards."
"I know." She lamented with him, "I was in Diagon Alley last week, I cast a charm to disguise myself and hid under a cloak but the alarms still went off all the same. Luckily I was in and out."
"Hey guys." Came a familiar voice and Hermione looked up to see Ron looking cold and tired, but still the same old Ron. She grinned over and went to hug him, "Sorry I'm a bit late."
"Not at all. It's so good to have you here." Hermione said, "It's been so long."
It had been almost a year since the trio had been together. But what could they do? They couldn't risk all of them being together in case they were found. She squeezed Ron's hand and took him over to the table, "Ginny was just about to tell us why she gathered us here." Molly said, business first, reunion later.
Ron sat down beside her and they all looked up to Ginny who was standing at the head of the table. "Okay." She said, looking a bit shy for a second before she pulled up a large rolled up piece of parchment and spread it out on the table. It looked like a building plan or a blueprint.
"What's this? Arthur asked.
"This is the Salazar Opera House." She said and Hermione looked at the plans, she could see it now, the snakes that slithered up the columns at the entrance and the large golden dome, it was undoubtedly the opera house. "It was built last year and the Death Eater's Coalition meet there every month to do speeches and events. On October 31st they are doing another set of speeches and Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy will be there, we think You-Know-Who might even go.
"There will be thousands of people there, mostly Death Eaters, I think it's a great time to attack, to do something. We've been stagnant for far too long."
"So what are you proposing we go into Death Eater headquarters all guns blazing and get killed?" Neville asked.
Ginny furrowed her brow in frustration, "No, I'm saying we should plant a bomb."
"What's a bomb?" Arthur asked. Hermione rolled her eyes, it was a good idea. It was a very muggle idea, which meant the Death Eaters had even less of a chance to see it coming.
Seamus was grinning now, and nudging Neville and Dean, "If it's a bomb you need, I'm sure I can help with that."
"I think it's a great idea." She said and Ginny looked over, clearly relieved Hermione was on board. "They'll never see it coming, they're so arrogant. It's a good attack plan. But how are we going to get inside, and as a matter of fact, how did you get that blueprint?"
Ginny smiled, "I had a little help, and as it happens I've already taken care of the getting inside part."
"I'll be planting the bomb." Came a voice from the other side of the room. It was one she couldn't place although she was sure she'd heard it before.
Hermione looked over as did everyone else and her eyes fell on someone standing in the shadows of the darkened room. He moved forward so they could see his face and the entire table gasped in shock. Draco Malfoy?
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Let me know what you thought, I would love to hear it! Review, favourite, follow, all that jazz. Also I'm totally up for someone being my beta so if you want that person to be you, please get in touch!