Chapter two: The Awakening

Harry didn't remember falling asleep. He couldn't remember much of anything after he and Hermione slipped out of the castle. He was beginning to remember that it was dark when they had left, and now it was very bright. Didn't anybody come looking for them? Did anybody notice they weren't in the castle when it came time to sleep? He looked over at Hermione, who was just beginning to stir. Then he looked behind her and shouted in pure shock and confusion.

"The castle!"

Hermione, still groggy, shook her head slightly as she tried to figure out what he was talking about.

"What's wrong with the castle, Harry?"

He could only point to the spot where Hogwarts used to be. In it's place was nothing but a pile of ruins. There were smashed cages from the owlery on the ground and the bricks that once made the school lay smashed to pieces and covered in age-old soot.

What the hell happened last night?

That thought ran through Harry's head over and over. He racked his brain for any sort of minute detail that might explain why it looked like Hogwarts had been abandoned for months, maybe even years. He stood up and realized he had been lying under a rather thick pile of leaves. How did those get there? The leaves hadn't even changed colors when they arrived at Hogwarts yesterday morning. Something was definitely off. He began pacing and immediately tripped over what he thought might've been a rock.

"OW!"

"Dobby is so sorry! He didn't mean to be in Harry Potter's way!"

Dobby, Harry thought.

"What are you doing here?"

"Dobby came to lift the spell, of course!" Dobby exclaimed with some excitement, "Dobby saved Harry Potter from death!"

"What do you mean, you saved Harry from death? Do you know what happened here?" Hermione jumped in to the conversation. She knew she'd struck a chord, because Dobby's eyes widened and he started to shake a little, obviously debating if he should say anything or not. Finally, he took a deep breath and started his story.

"Last year, Dobby was taken prisoner by You-Know-Who and his followers. Dobby was forced to serve them! They made plans, horrible plans. They wanted to take over the school and use the children to force the Ministry to give them power. They set a date and made a plan to invade the school when everybody least expected. Dobby had to sneak away to make sure Harry Potter was safe!"

It made sense that Voldemort would be behind it all, but Harry and Hermione were both still confused. Hermione was the one who voiced what they both wondered.

"Dobby, how did you 'save' us exactly?"

There was a pause before the little house elf responded with, "Dobby put Harry Potter and his friend to sleep and used a cloaking spell to hide you from anyone who might come looking. Harry Potter and his friend stayed asleep until I came to lift the spell, which I did when it was safe."

Hermione looked at Harry, eyes wide. They had no idea anything happened because Dobby had put them to sleep. Harry spoke this time.

"How long have we been asleep?"

"One year and six days."

Harry's jaw dropped. A year. A whole year they'd been asleep on the shore of the Black Lake. Voldemort had destroyed Hogwarts and taken over the ministry. Hopefully, he assumed Harry had died in whatever tragedy happened where they were. It would give him the advantage when he set about fixing this whole thing. He knew it was up to them to fix it, but how?

"Dobby, do you know if anyone survived?"

Dobby shook his head as he replied with "Dobby knows the Death Eaters used fiendfyre to get rid of anyone left over. There were no survivors at Hogwarts."

That meant Ron was dead. And so was Ginny, and Neville, and Seamus, and anyone else they had ever had the pleasure of being classmates with. How were they going to fix this without any help?

Suddenly, Hermione's eyes lit up.

"Dumbledore! He wasn't there that night! If we can find him, he can tell us what to do."

Harry agreed enthusiastically, and they decided the most logical thing to do was go to Hogsmeade and ask around. If nothing else, they'd find a small clue as to where Dumbledore might go when Hogwarts isn't in session. Before they set out, however, something occurred to Harry.

"Dobby, how did you get free from Voldemort?"

Dobby grinned.

"Stupid Death Eater asked Dobby to do laundry."

All three of them succumbed to a laughing fit, and then Harry and Hermione set out for Hogsmeade to find the former headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Hogsmeade was dark, and a heavy atmosphere hung over what was once a happy place for all wizards. Harry had no idea where to start. He looked over at Hermione for help, but she was looking around with a rather worried look on her face.

"Harry, coming here might have been a bad idea."

He looked around with her and noticed people whispering to each other and shooting glances their way. They stuck out like sore thumbs, and Harry was sure Voldemort would not be pleased if he realized the young wizard was still alive. Hermione gently tugged his sleeve to motion him to move backwards in to a nearby alley with her, but as he turned away someone yelled.

"Oy! You two! Stay where you are!"

"Run!

Harry didn't have to be told twice, but the strange man was quickly gaining. Suddenly a figure appeared in front of them out of nowhere and grabbed their shoulders, and the alley disappeared.