Chapter 2

… and life as we know it is over

Harry Potter was running for his life. His heart was beating fast and he felt the adrenaline coursing through his veins, giving him the energy to push himself like never before. The only thing he heard was the loud THUD-THUD of his heart and his heavy breathing as his eyes wildly looked for a way out. All reasonable thought has fled his mind, leaving only the desperation that comes with being hunted. "There!" His frantic mind pointed at a small corner that could be overlooked. Throwing an anxious look over his shoulder to insure that the horde chasing him could not see him, Harry shoved himself in the corner and started chanting in his mind "please don't let them see me, please don't let them see me, please, please". Even that stopped when he caught sight of his followers and his mind went blank with fear. His heart missed a beat when one of them looked his way and he let a small whimper escaped his lips. But no, he has not been spotted, and he watched as the horde continued down the alley. Harry Potter, who has faced countless death eaters, who was in fact the person who brought the demise of one the darkest wizards in the history of wizardry, closed his eyes, and let himself fall down to the floor with relief, as the last of his fan club left the alley. After several minutes of deep breaths, Harry stood up again and peaked around his corner, to make sure that there was not a teenage girl in sight, before leaving the corner that turned into his salvation. Hunching his shoulders and patting his hair to cover his scar, he continued on to his destination.

Hogsmead had changed, for the better of course. As the war ended, it took the desolation with it. For the first time in years, Hogsmead was filled with life. Now the air was clear, shops were reopened and the people were out and about. It was hard to believe that just a few years ago the streets were empty and desolated with no sign of human life. Now they were filled with life and laughter, children running carefree and enjoying a beautiful summer day. It was as if it hadn't even happened: the streets were rebuilt, the stores were reopened, a carefully maintained façade that life was normal. But when you look deeper into the eyes of adults, you can still see the nightmares that still plague them despite their many efforts to forget. Luckily children have been blessed with short memories and were able to leave the sorrows of the past where it belongs and enjoy life with all their might. Harry felt himself relax a little just looking at a little boy trying to nag his mother into buying him ice cream and internally wishing him good luck, he went to his destination with a lighter step.

He wanted to get to the Three Broomsticks before Ron and Hermione went inside because he highly suspected that when his admirers could not find him, they will begin looking elsewhere and the Three Broomsticks was a known favorite place of his. It was foolish of him, really, to show himself in a place where teenage girls were known to populate the area without any sort of disguise. "Well, not one that was useful anyway" Harry thought as he stroked his sorry excuse of a beard. A few months earlier, after a similar attempt on his life, Harry considered a permanent sort of disguise: a beard. Sadly it was a disastrous attempt, if today was any indication. Even though it has been several months since he started, the "beard" was still very light and did nothing to hide his face. Had it not been for Ginny, he would have given up weeks ago but she assured him that it gave him a rather rugged look. Ginny. Just thinking about her brought a smile to his scowling face. He has not seen her, in what seemed like ages, but was really only a little over two weeks. She had followed in her brother Billy's footsteps but instead of becoming a curse breaker, she had become a curse bearer. She was currently in France, completing the last part of her education.

Harry was jostled from his thoughts when he saw the sign of the Three Broomsticks. Hoping that Hermione and Ron hadn't beaten him to it, he went to the side and looked through a window. After a few minutes of looking around, he sighted in relief: they were not there. He walked back to the front and prepared himself to wait for his friend. Now that he had time to think about it though, they should have been there. After all when a fan club constituting completely of determined teenage girls were after you, it's a little bit hard to be on time. He glanced at his watched, which confirmed his suspicion that he was about 15 minutes late. It really wasn't like Hermione to be late; Ron absolutely, but not Hermione. Just as he was about to go take a second look at the inside of the pub to make sure that he didn't miss seeing them, he caught a glimpse of fuzzy brown hair next to a tall red head. He quickly started going their way because knowing Ron, he would probably announce at the top of his lungs "Harry Potter!", letting everybody hear in the vicinity (by that I mean anybody who had functioning ears and happened to be in Hogsmead). Not good when he was trying to keep a low key presence. His two best friends were in the process of arguing (shocking…not). Although, today they did seem a bit disheveled. Again, he would not give it a second thought if Ron was the only one, but Hermione too? On top of being late? Looked like they had similar encounters. Ron and Hermione were not worshiped (there really was not another word for it) to the same level but as the best friends of Harry Potter they still had their own fan club (to the pleasure of Ron). Harry quickly caught up to his two friends and managed a small miracle and led them away from people without Ron giving him away. The Shrieking Shack was still deserted after all these years and Harry decided to take full advantage of that and headed straight for it. Unable to no longer keep quiet, Ron blurted out "what was that for?" After sitting himself on a big chunk of rock, Harry answered his question with a question of his own, "where did they get you?" When all he got was confused looks from both Hermione and Ron he continued "the horde?" he asked using the affectionate name Ginny and Hermione came up with. Again all he got was confused looks "you're late and you look like you have been chased" he pointed out gesturing at their messy clothing. "Why else would you look like that?" He had his answer when Ron's ears turned as red as his hair and Hermione's cheeks joined him. Harry wished that the earth would swallow him or at least for the reappearance of the horde to save him from this situation. He didn't think that there will ever come a time when he would be comfortable with his two best friends shared this new hobby. "So… huh… the horde found me not five minutes after I apparated to Hogsmead, took me forever to lose them" he shared desperate for a change of subject. Clinging to it like a lifeline, he hurriedly told them of his escape. However, before he could finish he felt something. He didn't need Hermione's alarm voice to them tell him that something was going on. His whole body felt like it was enveloped in something warm and strangely enough, comforting. But before he could really process what was going on, the feeling quickly changed and became painful. When before it warm now it was hot and suffocating and he started having trouble breathing. The pressure slowly but surely increased and it felt like it was dragging him inch by inch. He only had time to look at Hermione's panicked face before everything went dark.