Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter.

A/N: First of all, thank you for reading/favouriting/alerting/reviewing/whatever this story. Second of all, I am sorry that a new chapter comes this late, but to be fair I did kind of warn you in the first chapter.

Chapter IV

"My dear fellow witches and wizards you have just finished listening to our live coverage of the exhibition game between the quidditch teams of England and Wales. It's been a fun ride, but now sport has to move along in favour of more serious matters at hand. My name is Lee Jordan and after a drought that has been several weeks or maybe even months long I am back as your favourite presenter of the one and only show 'Footprints of War'. This right here is where you can finally learn about the events that transpired when Harry Potter thwarted Moldywart's pants for good...we hope at least...and of course there's the most illuminating of guests accompanying our broadcast today. But first, let's relive some of the atmosphere from those dark days as we listen to Dean Thomas' ballad 'On the Run', which he wrote during the months that he was hiding from Death Eaters, the Ministry and the snatchers."

"Well, that was our dear Dean. I have to say that he might have unsuccessfully tried to make it when it comes to Quidditch, but dude can seriously sing his chops off. I definitely believe he should stick to the microphone instead of the broom. What does our guest think? Ladies and gentlemen and whoever else is listening, the one and only, Hermione Weasley, nee Granger! Welcome, Hermione!"

"Thanks, Lee."

"So, which is it for Dean Thomas, the microphone or the broom?"

"Well, I maintain he should decide that one himself."

"That's scandalous, Mrs. Weasley. After all those years and Ickle Ronniekins hasn't managed to woo you to the beauties of quidditch?"

"Don't call him that!"

"Alright, alright, I won't. Just please put your wand away. I don't need to be jinxed on live broadcast. I was saving that for the episode with Ginny, you know."

"Well, I'm sure that you've got one hell of a Bat-Bogey hex coming your way if she comes here. Anyway, there was a reason why you invited me here, wasn't there? It's not just another of your and George's practical jokes?"

"Of course, it isn't. I still can't believe you haven't listened to any of our previous episodes."

"Well, I've been busy."

"Busy with what?"

"The negotiations with the merpeople, of course. As I have told you...several times."

"Yes, of course. Let's just get to the point of our show. As you are one of the poor souls who haven't had the opportunity to listen to one of the broadcasts of our terrific show, let me introduce you to Footprints of War. A unique show, where we look back at some of the darkest parts of our history together with the main protagonists and finally offer the public an uncensored narrative of the events from the Second Great Wizarding War against Voldemort."

"That definitely sounds like an interesting idea."

"Ha, I knew it! You do realise that I am a genius at some level!"

"That's really not what I said."

"Anyway, Hermione, during those times you accompanied Harry Potter at almost every waking moment. If there's someone who can tell us nearly as much about the whole history of the last few months before Vodemort's downfall as Harry himself it's you."

"Probably yes. However there are things I know and won't say tonight. If and when they should be said is completely in Harry's hands."

"That's understandable; it's known that you have the loyalty of a Hufflepuff in you, Hermione. But let's talk about the things you can disclose. Where did it all start for you?"

"As I'm a muggle born, I'd say it started the day when Professor McGonagall came to our house to tell us that I'm a witch and then suddenly I was thrown into this completely new magical world. As for when the thing with Voldemort started? I suppose at the same point where it started with Harry and Ron for me. In the girl's bathroom at Hogwarts, where the two of them saved me from a giant troll. And then it just went on, each year at Hogwarts seemed to end in some kind of disaster, which was somehow connected to Voldemort."

"Which one was the most terrifying for you?"

"I think most people would expect me to say when I was petrified by the basilisk. But personally, I'd choose when Harry returned from the graveyard cradling Cedric Diggory's dead body in his arms during the Triwizard Tournament. It was horrible as it were when we didn't know what had happened, but learning that Voldemort was back made it ever more terrifying."

"You mentioned that you lived through similar events every year at Hogwarts. I don't think that our young fans who are attending Hogwarts at the moment can imagine what it was like. Could you give us a small recap of each year? Just in a few words."

"First year, there was Quirell who literally had Voldemort under his turban, trying to get his hands on the Philosopher's stone. We had to overcome a series of tasks to beat him to it. In the end Harry faced him."

"And he was what, eleven years old?"

"Yes. Then the next year there was the basilisk running amok around the school. And as already mentioned I was petrified by the basilisk for most of that year."

"Those who have listened during Care of Magical Creatures will know that looking into the eyes of a basilisk will kill you. How did you escape this fate?"

"Well, as there already had been others petrified before, I was making my research...and I had just figured out it was a basilisk, I had just left the library and I used a mirror to protect myself."

"Of course, you're not the cleverest witch of our generation for nothing, Hermione."

"You flatter me, Lee."

"Oh, I don't think so. So what about third year?"

"Hm, third year was about the marauders, Sirius Black who was falsely accused of betrayal and murder and Peter Pettigrew who was the one who was guilty. Also Remus Lupin, the DADA teacher who turned out to be a werewolf."

"But he was the best DADA teacher ever, wasn't he?"

"Yes, and one of the best men I have ever known. And a man who suffered greatly due to our communities prejudice to werewolves. Even though he was a victim himself, bitten when he was a mere defenceless child."

"But you have fought in order to improve the position of people like him in our society since the war ended. And you've been pretty successful."

"Well, we have made some progress and we have laws protecting them now. But it's all about the change in people's mind. And I don't think that's happened yet. And it's not just about werewolves, but also vampires, goblins, house elves...we still have miles to go."

"And I'm sure you'll put up the good fight on that path, Hermione. So, fourth year was the Triwizard Tournament and the year when Voldemort came back."

"Yes, there's not much more to say about that. Then the fifth year was maybe the craziest with all the secrecy. The Order of the Phoenix and then the DA."

"Yes of course. The DA. I think it would surprise many people to learn that the origin of the idea behind the DA came from your head. You're not the one they'd expect to break the rules."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. There's no point in adhering to the rules when it will likely kill you. I think it's very well possible that if it weren't for those lessons, fewer DA members would have made it out alive from that last battle."

"At the end of that year you took part in a battle against the Death Eaters at the Ministry of Magic as Neville Longbottom has already told us."

"Yes, at the end of fifth year at the Ministry and at the end of sixth year there was the battle at the Astronomy Tower."

"The one where Dumbledore met his end."

"Yes."

"After the Death Eaters took over the Ministry, you, Harry and Ron did not return to Hogwarts for your final year. Instead you went on the road...doing what exactly?"

"That's not for me to say."

"Meaning that I should ask Harry."

"Yes."

"But whatever it was, it was necessary in order to beat Voldemort."

"Yes."

"Obviously you can't tell us much about that time. But I'm sure it must have been even more terrifying than the years of Hogwarts. Which moments haunt you the most up to these days?"

"First, the fear of losing people you love. I think everyone who lived at that time knows that fear and pain. Back then, I obliviated my parents' memories and sent them to Australia in order to protect them. As muggles they would have been an easy target for the Death Eaters. But the thought that I might never see them again never left me. Then, there is this other thing..."

"Which is?"

"At one point on our journey we got captured by the Malfoys and I had the pleasure of a one to one session with Bellatrix Lestrange. There aren't many people walking this Earth who escape her torture and those who do are not in the best of mental shapes."

"That must have been terrible... It's the most appropriate to end today's episode of Footprints of War with this dark piece of knowledge, so our future generations realise how dark the times used to be. Thank you for joining us, Hermione!"

"Thanks, Lee."