The Book Thief
Ahh, the smell of dying people was in the air. You must think I enjoy that… after all, I am Death. But I really don't, it's very sad how often you humans die.
Especially during wars, then I carry thousands of souls each day, and their stories pain me.
I spent a lot of time following the small town of Molching and the stories found there. It was a small town full of purebloods that, obviously, supported the Dark Lord. However, they weren't important enough to be given power or money.
They lived in small houses, ignorant of how impoverished they were compared to the Death Eaters in His inner circle.
They had what they needed to survive in their little town. The kids played Quidditch on foot in streets, and the adults did what they could for money. Everybody revered the Dark Lord and lived mostly happy.
There was one family, the Weasleys, who lived just as mostly happy as the rest… for a while.
A young boy named Harry had lost his little brother and then his mother (he never knew his father), and so he came to live with his foster parents, Arthur and Molly.
Arthur was a kind, loving man who taught Harry to read and helped him with his nightmares. Molly loved him… but she had an odd way of showing it. She easily called him, and everybody else, a filthy pig. After a while it came to be a term of endearment. She didn't tolerate any messing around, but she loved him all the same.
They also had several grown children (Bill, Charlie, and Percy). There was also Ron, who quickly became Harry's best friend.
After a while, Percy got fed up with his dad's lack of loyalty to the cause.
Arthur Weasley had fought in the first war… along with a muggleborn who had saved his life. He couldn't join the Death Eaters (they wouldn't let him anyways after he'd painted over the cruel things written on a muggleborn's house).
Percy called him a coward and left, so he could join the army and fight for the Dark Lord.
A short while later, Arthur was reminded of the promise he'd made to his muggleborn friend's wife ("Let me know if you need anything, anything at all").
She had a daughter, a muggleborn, who needed a place to hide. And Arthur Weasley wasn't the kind of person to forget a promise.
Molly Weasley, the strict but loving matriarch, dealt incredibly well with having a muggleborn girl show up at her house at 3 am. She force fed the almost emaciated Hermione Granger soup until she'd eaten so much she puked.
As Hermione's nightmares tortured her in her sleep they also helped her make a new friend when she was awake. Harry also suffered from nightmares and they made a connection. She told him about hers - how she had to leave her family behind to come and hide in the Weasley's basement. He told her his - how his little brother died and his mom had to leave him (he heard the word muggleborn a lot, not really understanding what it meant at the time).
Even with the secret in the basement, the Weasleys went through their life, acting almost normal.
About a year or so later:
There was a muggleborn concentration camp not too far down the road.
The prisoners there worked all day to provide for the purebloods. And they worked hard; I would know, I was there, after all, many of them died from the intense and wandless labor. But they needed exercise, to walk and be outside.
The Malfoys had been relocated to this area after both Lucius and Draco had failed the Dark Lord (they're lucky to be alive, although for a while I wasn't sure if the boy would make it).
Lucius and Draco were the guards who led the prisoners through the circle in the center of the town.
The prisoners shuffled pitifully, they were all malnourished and in really bad shape.
You could practically sense the snickers of the purebloods as they spit at the people walking past them (if you could call them people, they were more like skeletons).
There was one old man who kept falling down; he'd land hard on his knees only to be prodded back to his feet by the tip of Lucius Malfoy's wand. Most of the purebloods snickered, and the Malfoy's merely smirked.
But Arthur Weasley's blood boiled. Maybe it was his red hair, maybe Molly's temper had rubbed off on him, maybe he was thinking of Percy, or maybe he remembered his dead muggleborn friend and the girl hiding in his basement, I don't know, but what I do know is what happened next:
The next time the old man fell down, Arthur went over, helped him up, and handed him a piece of bread. The man fell back to his knees, crying to show how grateful he was.
Lucius yanked him back to his feet, his wand pointed at the old man's heart heart, and he cast the Cruciatus Curse. The man was far too old, he couldn't handle it… he died. (Which explains why I was there, I'd been following him for the day, knowing he couldn't last much longer.)
Next, he pointed his wand at Arthur Weasley.
The townspeople didn't care about some nameless mudblood, but they cared about Arthur. His kind and generous ways had won over the hearts of the people. He was always available to talk, listen, or give advice; he lowered his prices for painting so people could afford it and played the accordion for everybody's entertainment.
Arthur never felt the curse that almost left Lucius' mouth, and Lucius left the town embarrassed and wandless.
Sometimes the hearts of people surprise me, you know? I'd never have expected the people who laughed at muggleborn suffering to easily jump to the defense of someone who helped one. I guess that shows how much people care for their own, and just how far a little bit of kindness goes.
This is based on parts of the book The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak and it is amazing! You have to go read that book! Don't worry, this fic doesn't spoil the ending and I changed some stuff.
Basically, the Hubermanns (Weasleys) have a grown son (Percy) and a daughter. They adopt a young girl named Liesel (Harry). She learns to read and becomes friends with her neighbor Rudy (Ron). The son gets angry at his dad and leaves to fight in WWII.
This does take place during WWII (the second wizarding world war). The Nazis (Death Eaters) are ruled by Hitler (Dark Lord) and they persecute Jews (muggleborns) and favor Germans (purebloods). See how well that all fits together?
The Hubermanns (Weasleys) hide a Jew (muggleborn) named Max (Hermione) in their basement. The soldiers (Lucius and Draco) march Jews (muggleborns) through Molching and Hans (Arthur) helps an old man…
See… I based it mostly off that, changing the genders (Liesel is a girl, Harry is not), and stuff like that, you know Rudy isn't related to the Hubermanns but Ron's related to the Weasleys… So you still have to read the book… it's really amazing!