Blood ran down the wall as if someone had splashed it there by means of paint can. Bodies were strewn across the ground. Some of the bodies were intact while others were in pieces. Massive slugs, nearly three feet long gorged themselves on the numerous bodies. A bloody hand print was smeared across the only window in the room at a forty five degree angle. There was considerable blood splatter on the ceiling and all over the furniture. The floor was submerged in almost six inches of blood. A pentagram burnt red on the ceiling, the five walls, and the floor. A lit candle was suspended between the ceiling and the floor.
A hulking figure was standing near the portal. This figure was more than ten feet tall and sheathed in shadow. All that could be made out were the figure's glowing red eyes. It whispered something and the candle erupted into a towering doorway of solid flame. Blood curdling screams bellowed from the door. The wailing screams were that of the tortured souls of the dammed. Dark shapes began to move out of the door. Creatures of horrifying detail began take form around the shadowy hulk. Then the thing spoke to the others in a deep bone chilling voice that mortal ears were never meant to hear, "Come my brothers the mortal plane is ripe for the ravaging."
A screaming girl was dragged into the room. The girl had bushy brown hair and brown eyes. With a click of his claws the pack around the figure swarmed around the girl ripping her to shreds.
Hermione woke up screaming in Ginny's room at the Burrow. Ginny heard the screams and tried in vain to bring Hermione from her dreams. Others ran into the room only to find a screaming Hermione writhing around in her bed. By this time she was clawing at her skin leaving deep gashes all over her body. After several failed attempts to wake her up they took her to St. Mungo's. When they got her to the hospital she was crying tears of blood. When they got her into the bed she stopped crying and her eyes snapped open. There were no eyes, only bloody gaping sockets that oozed blood. The family was shooed from the room by the healers.
Several hours later a healer left Hermione's room and approached the family looking grim but calm.
"How is Hermione," asked a frantic Molly, "is she going to be ok?"
"She will be fine," said the healer in a tired tone, "she will make a full recovery but will be blind for the rest of her life."
"Blind!" spat most of the group.
"Yes, blind. It appears that she saw something in her dream so horrific that without knowing it she magically removed her own eyes."
"Can't you fix it," said Ron who was turning a mixed shade of red and green.
"I'm afraid not. Whatever she did is permanent."
"Can we see her?" said Ginny.
"Yes you can, but I will ask that you refrain from asking her what happened."
As the family walked into the room they saw Hermione attempting to feed herself. Her eyes were rapped up with gauze which was stained a light pink. She was so engrossed in the task that she had set for herself that she didn't seem to notice them enter. Having caught wind of something in the air, Harry began to sneeze. Hearing this Hermione's head shot up and turned in the direction of the sound. "H—Harry," she said in a cautious tone.
"Yes," said Harry. Before anyone could do anything Hermione shot out of her bed and lunged for Harry. Rapping her arms around him she began to cry.
"I s—saw you d—dead," she managed to say through her sobs. "Th—they r—raped me, th—then they w—were all k-killed and then th—that man sh—showed up and th—then th—the m—monsters attacked m—me and I w—woke up here."
"Well I guess that takes care of that," said Ron looking at the Healer.
After a week in the hospital Hermione was allowed to leave. Life at the Burrow was back to normal, well almost normal. Hermione who was always trying to learn as much as she could simply passed the whole, her being blind, thing off as a new learning experience and acted as though nothing was wrong. There was one thing however that seemed to make her very angry. She could no longer enjoy one of the simple pleasures in life, reading. For a while she tried to do without, but like all addicts she had had to get her fix. Eventually Ginny volunteered to read allowed to her. Fred and George showed up one day to see if they could make things easier for Hermione. In the end she got pissed at them and accidentally hexed Harry and Ron because her aim was so bad. Later that day Tonks showed up and taught Hermione a nifty spell which enabled her to read her books even though she was blind.
Bill and Fleur decided that they would postpone the wedding after hearing about Hermione's dream. "I know that what she said might not be true, but I still don't want to take that chance," said Bill the day they heard the news. In the end Charley solved their problem by getting them muggle passports and plane tickets to Las Vegas over in the states. Moody went with them for protection. A week later they returned husband and wife. Moody was a multi-billionaire because he used his magical eye to help him win poker. Bill told them that the first night over there Moody came back from one of the casinos ten million richer. When Moody went to Green Gots to get all his money exchanged he received a very nasty shock. Later that day he gave Bill a letter with a key inside. Once Bill opened the letter and read it he began to froth at the mouth fell over and started to twitch. Fleur out of curiosity picked up the letter and proceeded to scream and faint. Moody was laughing his head off. Seeing all this, the rest of the family came over to inspect the letter. Their responses were similar. By this time Moody was having trouble breathing because he was laughing so hard. Hermione having no clue as to what was so funny asked moody how much was in the bank. "There are two billion galleons in that account," he said while wiping the tears out of his eye.
A month after Hermione got out of the hospital everyone was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast and enjoying the morning for what it was. It was not a beautiful sunny day, but warm and damp. It was drizzling but it was still a pleasant day given the weather. A flutter a wings outside marked the arrival of the morning post. Ginny who was closest to the window took the paper and laid it down on the table without even reading it. The paper sat there for another five or so minutes before Ron glanced at the paper and swore very loudly. Molly heard this and was getting ready to say something when she saw the paper as well. She gasped and grabbed the paper from the table and began to read it allowed.
DIAGON ALLY HAS BEEN DECLARED WAR ZONE. Late last night Death Eater forces attacked Diagon Ally. Ministry forces were sent to counter the attack but were required to fall back due to heavy losses. No word has yet to be received about the residents and their conditions. Not long after the Ministry was pushed out a message was received stating 'Harry Potter or they all die.'
The paper went on to describe events leading up to and following the attack as well as a list of the missing. Not long after they started reading the paper Arthur and the twins showed up. The mood in the room went from despair to relief and a sad but happy tone. Soon after the family gathering Tonks and Moody showed up looking like they had gone through hell.
"What's the news?" asked Molly looking frantic again.
"The fighting has spread into the muggle parts of London," said a very tired looking Tonks.
"And the Ministry is powerless to control the situation," said and equally tired Moody.
"All across London Muggle and Death Eater forces are clashing," said Tonks. "Surprisingly enough, the muggles are holding their own."
"I saw one of their tanks, I think that's right, take out a giant," Moody said as if to add to the conversation. "When I was helping some of the civilians get to safety a dragon flew overhead followed closely by two flying machines. I think they are called choppers. Anyway one launched something that streaked away and smashed into the dragon completely tearing off one of its wings."
"So it has begun," said Hermione. Everyone looked over at her. "The war has officially started."
