Hi all. This is the first book of my War In Between series, following a group of Ravenclaws and their friends at the end of the First Wizarding War. This first book, the Remnant, was written several years ago, and admittedly I am not super proud of it. All I can do if promise you that the second book, The Legend, is must better and requires that you get to know the characters in this first book.
I welcome all reviews, and apologise for any spelling, grammar, or continuity errors that I have missed. I do not own Harry Potter and am not making any money from this.
Everything is canon, or canon+ (ie my own stuff has been added in as long as it does not explicitly conflict with canon).
Please enjoy!
The Remnant
Prologue: Mr. Smith's Train Journey
Mr. Rodney Smith had to blink a couple of times and straighten his spectacles before he could believe the man next to him: impossibly tall and thin, like a string bean (Mr. Smith himself was, as he liked to think, well-proportioned), wearing a matching magenta top hat and dressing gown with a necklace of lizard feet and miniature peacock feathers. Clearing his throat and straightening his tie, Mr. Smith edged away from the stranger and fidgeted with his briefcase, wondering when the train would arrive. He checked his expensive watch just as a group of similarly odd persons skipped past him. 'Today's the day!' they sang, beards and amulets and all sorts flying everywhere as they crossed the platform. Mr. Smith sighed and wiped his forehead, hoping it was just some sort of convention. Yes, that would be it.
Further down the platform he spied a family, looking, thankfully, relatively normal- except for the husband's back-to-front cardigan and his wife's strange and shabby frock coat. They hefted a couple of children up and began walking briskly towards a woman in powder blue robes, who was smoking a pipe that blew purple smoke. They reached each other, hugged and burst out crying with joy. Mr. Smith shook his head. What cause did these people have for such happiness? He thought about anything that could merit such merriment. The first Boeing 747 flight? That was in the news a while ago. Slavery in Mauritania had been abolished. That couldn't be it, Mr. Smith thought airily. This was 1981; Thatcher was making it miserable enough as it was. Oh well, he thought, he must be getting on his train. The seven-thirty to Hammersmith was his. He hopped on board, getting into a seat, and pulled out his appointment book to prime himself for the day ahead. He was just getting to his midday with Mrs. Johnson when a man plonked himself unceremoniously next to him. Mr. Smith's lip curled as he regarded the man, dressed silly like the rest of the revellers. He was attractive in a late-thirties sort of way, with an impish air about him. His dressing gown was sea-blue, and he carried an air of delight about him that for some reason Mr. Smith found infectious. He smiled at the man, who grinned back and took his hand.
"My friend, today is a very good day indeed."
"I noticed." Mr. Smith said. "Some kind of convention?"
The man chuckled. "Oh no, sir. Today the Dark Lord is gone, and the world can breathe again! May you have a wonderful day as well!"
Ah, Mr. Smith realised, there must be a dungeons and dragons convention in town. This Dark Lord nonsense seemed to fit in with that. He nodded meekly, reminding himself to raise his children far away from that sort of lark, and cancelled his two-fifteen, thinking that he'd need some breathing time today.
"Have you any children?" The man abruptly asked as they flashed past a station. What a question, Mr. Smith thought, to a stranger next to one on the train! The man didn't wait for an answer. "I have a little daughter, myself. Just ten years old. Oh, what a wonderful childhood she'll have now, my friend! Free from the shadow that has fallen over us all!" He showed white teeth. "Well, it has been wonderful knowing you, Mr. Smith, but I have several parties to attend."
He whipped out of his seat as the train came to a halt at Shepherd's Bush. Mr. Smith watched him go, quite pleased to be alone.
Only once he was at work a couple of hours later did he pause to wonder how on earth the man had known his name?
