Chapter Three: The Bomb
The bomb exploded suddenly. Those nearest took the blunt of the force. The blast tour limbs apart. Even those further away were knocked back. Shrapnel perceived in all directions, causing mass chaos. Within a few seconds the room was a pile of dying bodies. No one escaped the impact.
Bloodied and injured, James pulled himself towards the centre of the room. There was screaming agony as people started to grasp what had happened. He found himself facing the body of Hermione. She laid there lifelessly. All hope rested on her; leading the resistance, and fighting back against the Ellis. With her dead, the resistance might as well be over.
Having heard the explosion from another room, Rose rushed in, slamming the door open. Seeing Hermione's lifeless corpse, the girl fell to the ground. She began weeping on the floor.
"Oh mother, what have they done!" she screamed in destress. "This can't happen!"
She noticed James was still moving. He was near the wall of the room, so he was barely hit by the bomb's impact. Shrapnel had blotted his body though, causing great bleeding.
"We'll get you heal," she remarked. "And we'll find out the son of the bitch who did this."
The event soon faded into distance memories. Although Ellis O'Brien-Peacock condemned the attack, insisting he had nothing to do it, we all knew he was to blame. He mightn't be the person sending the bombs – several had been sent to predominant critics of his – Ellis's rhetoric spurred the attack. Rumour began to surface saying it was a false attack. According to them, the resistance sent the bombs to themselves. But we all knew it was lies.
There was protesters and hecklers at Hermione's funeral. Ellis's supporters complained that a muggle-born was getting a funeral. Although she was popular, not everyone liked Hermione, even if she was a war hero.
Within a week, Hermione's gravestone was tagged. Graffiti said "Here's to mud-bloods" and all other foul symbols. Even Voldemort's Deatheater symbol was crudely etch into the headstone. No matter how often we tried to remove the markings, they would return the next day.
Hermione's death seemed to mark the end of the resistance. So many people were despondent. Rose didn't have the same charisma as her mother. Eventually the numbers dwindles to us few. Perhaps Ellis's movement was going to triumph after all. Where we went we were taunted by everyone. Even people who had original supported our cause decided to change side. We were losing, and we were losing fast.
Ellis's didn't stop at persecuting muggle-born. His true hatred began to shine. He went after anyone that seemed different. He arrested anyone who was even suspected of being homosexuals and transgender. He said those people were unnatural – even though the wizardry community traditionally tolerated them. Then he forced women to leave high-ranking jobs. He made a law that no women could be a teacher at Hogwarts. And while this was occurring, no one blinked an eye. It was as if this was how it was always done.
Rose remained with James in the hospital, waiting for him to recover. One day a letter arrived. The owl flew into the room. Rose picked up the letter. Having finished reading it, she knew what she had to do.
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