Hi! This is my first fan fiction type thing ever, so…here goes… It's about Harry Potter's Seventh year at Hogwarts, in which he doesn't attend, since he is too busy hunting Voldemort's Horcruxes with Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. This story is about what happened at Hogwarts that horrible year, since it was run by Death Eaters. Well, it's just a fanfiction, so I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters, J.K. Rowling does. I do own the original characters, though. Enjoy the first chapter, it'll get better as I post!
IT HAPPENED AT HOGWARTS!
An account of the horrors of Hogwarts, the year Voldemort reigned…
Chapter One- The Hogwarts Express
It was a dark, gray morning when the Hogwarts Express was set to depart from King's Cross Station. The bellowing clouds overhead threatened rain. Platform nine and three quarters was all abuzz, little eleven year old wizard and witches were scampering about, clutching owls in cages, and struggling to lift heavy trunks, full of spellbooks, potion ingredients, parchment, ink, and quills. Confused Muggles, struggling to understand why they saw hundreds of children holding owls in cages and checking them as baggage, also ran about.
The children said quick goodbyes to their parents. Most of them were terrified, yet excited at the idea of magic, as they were raised by Muggles themselves, or non-magic people.
Nick was starting his seventh and last year at Hogwarts, and, along with his friends, he was chosen a prefect of Ravenclaw house. The prefects shepherded the first years into the train, finding them compartments to sit in for the journey. As Nick looked on at the terrified little first-years, he remembered his own first day. Then he felt longing... The realization that this was his last, final year at Hogwarts dawned on him. Suddenly, he was broken out of his daydreams.
"Umm, where should I sit?" asked a little girl with red hair and rosy cheeks. "It looks like everywhere is full…"
She was looking up nervously at Nick. He looked at her and remembered how terrified he himself felt on his first time on the Hogwarts Express and said comfortingly, "You can sit with my friends and I. Would that make you feel better?"
"Oh yes! I'm so excited about Hogwarts, but I'm afraid too. I had no idea that there was such thing as magic…"
The two walked into the train, and found a nearby empty compartment. Empty, save only for one girl, who happened to be Laura Donovan, Nick's best friend. Laura was Nick's age, seventeen, and was starting her last and final year at Hogwarts also. She had already changed into her dark, simple Hogwarts robes. The Ravenclaw badge with the symbol of a raven was pinned neatly on her chest. A second, fancy pin was attached underneath it. It held a fancy "P", standing for prefect of course. She had deep brown eyes and a kind, dainty face. She was sitting on the red plushy seat, reading Standard Book of Spells: Year Seven. She stroked her brown hair in thought, then she looked up. Her eyes sparkled, and a true smile broke out on her face.
"Oh hi Nick, it's so great to see you, and oh, who's this?" she added, looking down at the young girl with the red hair.
"My name's Katrina," said the girl, "I'm starting Hogwarts this year!"
Laura smiled, "Come here Katrina, you can sit by me."
Nick sat down on the other side of Katrina.
"So Katrina," Laura asked, "are you excited about going to Hogwarts?"
The girls eyes grew wide, "Oh yes! Yes! I was so excited when I got the letter! My father's a milkman and my mother, a grocer, we had no idea about magic or Hogwarts or anything!"
"Wow," Laura replied. She was about to say something, but then stopped as the compartment door opened again. Nick and Laura's fellow seventh years Ian Szwidlo, Sarah Wardell, Jordan Fortin, and Dan Honeycutt walked in.
"Being a prefect is SO overrated," Ian spat, slamming his books down, "All we have to is herd those rude little bratty midge—" he glanced over at Katrina and grew red and stopped talking.
"Well," Jordan said, pushing Ian playfully down into a seat, "I think they're nice. And it's great that we can help them. She sat down next to Katrina.
Sarah caught Nick's glance and smiled an unspoken hello. She sat down opposite them in the compartment. Dan shot Ian an I-agree-with-you look, and sat down next to him.
"Have you read the Prophet lately?" Jordan asked, once they had all settled in. "All that junk about Dumbledore and his family?"
"Oh yes," said Laura, with a look of sour distaste on her face, "that Skeeter woman repulses me to the core. Look at all the bad things she wrote about Harry during the Triwizard Tournament. She's obviously a horrible lying person."
"My mom thinks she's great," said Ian, rolling his eyes, "Of course, she'll believe anything she hears about in Witch Weekly."
"Dumbledore was a great man," Nick said, "All he cared about was the safety and well-being of the students of Hogwarts."
"Yes," Laura nodded, "Harry's told us all about him, of course."
"And him too," Dan spoke up, "Did you hear? He's not coming to Hogwarts this year, says Dumbledore left him a 'secret mission'."
"Dan! Shhhh!" Jordan hissed, "We can't talk freely here, if they say You-Know-Who's infiltrated the Ministry, he's definitely gotten Hogwarts too…"
"That reminds me!" Nick said feverently. He pulled out today's Daily Prophet from his bag, "Read the headline!"
Jordan gasped and read aloud, "Severous Snape, former master of Potions, head of Slytherin house had replaced Albus Dumbledore as headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! No!"
"No way," Laura said in an outrage. She snatched the paper from Jordan's hands, "No way! The other teachers, they won't stand for this! Snape killed Dumbledore! That's just not right! Professor McGonagall was deputy headmistress, isn't she supposed to take over?"
"I don't think so," Nick said, "It's probably the Death Eaters, they've taken over the school! Maybe they've even killed McGonagall!"
"I don't believe it," Sarah spoke for the first time. She looked horrified, as pale as a ghost, "It's just not right. You can't put the last headmaster's murderer in charge of a school!"
Katrina had gone deathly white as well. She looked in horror from face to face. She then croaked, "W-what are y-you talking ab-b-bout…?"
Laura looked ashamed. "We're sorry, Katrina. Let's talk about you. Wow, Hogwarts is going to be a lot of fun for you, I'm sure!"
Katrina brightened, "Yes, I think so, but I don't know any magic. My family, we're normal. Maybe they sent me the letter by mistake…"
"Oh no, you'll be fine!" Jordan said, "loads of kids come from Muggle families, or families that aren't magic. In fact, Laura's like that, so is Ian." She nodded her heads toward Laura and Ian. Katrina looked comforted. Then, suddenly, Dan spoke up.
"But didn't you hear about that? The Ministry is setting up a 'Muggle Born Registration Committee'. I wouldn't be surprised if they rounded you up an—"
"Dan!" Laura snapped, "We'll be safe at school. They can't possibly…"
"They can and they will," Dan replied sadly, "I don't think Hogwarts will ever be the same ever since Dumbledore die—"
"Alright! That's really quite enough!" Jordan said, she grabbed a shocked and confused Katrina by the hand and rose to exit the compartment. "I'll be back. Let's find some friends for you, Katrina!"
After they left, Laura looked up shakily at Dan. "Do you really think they'll round up the Muggle-borns?"
He looked down at Laura's scared face, "It's already started."
"What about all the first years? And all the youngest students?" Sarah said, growing angry, "what will they do to them?"
"Round 'em up, same as the adults probably," Ian said harshly, "They'll know too much about magic, won't they?"
"They just can't let that happen! In a school!?" Sarah interjected. It was just like Sarah to put her faith in the establishment. "Where's the decency?"
"Gone," Nick said, "The Death Eaters and Voldemort have already—"
"DON'T SAY THE NAME!" Dan shouted, raising his fist angrily at Nick.
"Why not," Laura snapped again, "Harry uses it, everyone in the Order does, and Dumbledore used to say, 'fear of a name—"
"'Only increases fear for the thing itself', I know," Dan repeated mockingly."And you mentioned the Order, it's dead. You-Know-Who's already taken over, whether the Ministry admits it or not. There's no use fighting him anymore."
Ian looked at his friend, disgusted. "It'll never be over, look what happened years ago, when You-Know-Who was in power. The Order never stopped fighting, and he was defeated."
"Yes," Dan said stupidly, "By an infant and some sort of freak prophecy accident! And look how good that helped, he's back again and it hasn't even been twenty years!"
The friends looked anxiously at each other, and it appeared that no one had a retort for Dan. All of them were involved with the Order of the Phoenix in some way. Their parents had been involved in it, and then, once they became of age, they joined as well. That's how they became close friends with Harry Potter. At that moment, Jordan re-entered the compartment, closing the door quickly with a snap behind her.
"It's true," she said quietly, hoarsely, "That Rebecca George girl, the Slytherin with the bad attitude, she's been telling anyone who'll listen that two of You-Know-Who's Death Eaters are teaching in the school. And with Snape as the headmaster…"
"Which ones?" Laura looked nervous, but curious.
"The Carrow siblings," Jordan replied, "You heard of 'em?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. The others looked uncertain as well. Finally, Nick's eyes lit up.
"Yeah," He said, "I know about the bloke at least, Amycus. My father mentioned something about him. He was tried years ago, and sent to Azkaban, but obviously he's not there anymore…"
"The Order thinks there's been a mass breakout," Ian said, "but the Ministry's obviously trying to cover it up."
The rest of the journey passed in relative peace and comfort. The train sped past forests and streams, lakes, and fields. The friends spoke little to each other, save for the occasional "How was your summer?" or "What classes are you taking this year?". They all, to say the very least, were terrified at the thought of Hogwarts run by Snape and his fellow Death Eaters. When the Hogwarts Express pulled into the small, lonely village of Hogsmeade, it was nearly dark. The students clambered off the train. The half-giant gamekeeper, Hagrid, was shepherding the first-years onto little boats that would take them across the lake to Hogwarts. The older students found threstral-bound carriages to ride in. The friends, Laura, Nick, Ian, Dan, Sarah, and Jordan climbed into the carriage closest to them, which already housed two students, a Slytherin seventh year, Rebecca George, and a Gryffindor sixth year, Irene Sowa. Rebecca had a look of disgust on her face.
"Excuse me," she looked at Ian and Laura, with such a look of distaste, you may have thought she had been forced to eat rotting eggs, "but I don't want any of their kind to sit in here."
"Then you can leave, Rebecca," Nick snapped, "no one really wants to be rewarded by your presence either."
Rebecca looked around, defeated. She sighed, muttering something about being pureblood, and then exited the carriage. Irene looked over and rolled her eyes.
"Some people," she said, shaking her head.
The friends sat down and looked groggily out into the cold night, letting the wind grip their faces and rustle through their hair. Hogwarts could be seen, looming ahead. The tall castle's many rooms were lit by magical fires, and sparkled in wonder and awe. If they only knew what lay ahead...