Written for round 4 of QLFC
team: Montrose Magpies
Position: seeker
Prompt: Apocalypse.
Word count WITHOUT REFERENCES IN A/N: 1,143
Summary: Its the end of life, quite literally. How Harry and Hermione think about it is up to them. Written from Harry's perspective then Hermione's. (Backed up with real information from Muslim/Christian sources)
Please read:
Dear readers and judge/mod,
I will be using literal and authentic end of world occurrences according to Islamic Quran and Christian bible as well. If you don't like me using references from Islam/Christian religions for this story, you can leave the story or skip the references section in the A/N.
It might sound silly to say such things for just a fanfiction, but i want to stay on a the safe side from islamophobics and those who equally hate christianity and publicly hate on them or muslims.
Thank you.
Today, something unusual happened... not many realized, but many others did. The sun rose from the west (1). It is well known that the sun only rises from the east, and this made no sense. It was no rare phenomena either, just a weird occurrence that had the worst feeling of it all.
It was a Friday today, and numerous people were bound to notice if they were early risers. From those people comes one Harry James Potter and one Hermione Jean Granger. One was used to standing on his balcony and watching the sunrise. The other was used to watching the news first thing after she woke up. However, this time, it was off. They felt the light filling the world, but not exactly from where it was supposed to be seen from.
Harry had, incidentally woken up earlier than usual today, and he felt a very different aura of the air around him. This was no joke. He had this sixth sense that was always right, and sometimes he hated it. He despised it because of the eerie feeling it produces in certain cases, and that included every single year at Hogwarts. This unexpected occurrence was happening only two years after the final battle. Harry was not quite ready to face danger once again, or death.
It was directly aired on the muggle televisions, and Harry immediately apparated to a point where he can use a radio to hear what would happen next. He, as expected, saw no point in listening to the news. They knew nothing, for it was only proved to be something to happen in the future. It seems that this was said future. Harry, as Hermione explained, knew its logical explanation done by scientists and astronomers together.
It had been proved that the sun rose from the west as well in planet Mars before (2), and Earth was bound to be next. Now, the time for the sun to rise the opposite way, was next. As scary as it was, as fascinating it was. It made Harry realize every single thing he had not done properly in his life, every mistake he had went through, and every wrong decision he had taken. The boldest one of those self-initiated conclusions was his mistake of never taking religion in mind. He had always read, but never believed. He had always known, but brushed it off. Little did he know at that time that he was paying now. For now was when every nonbeliever believed that it was the end, and that they have done wrong for themselves. However, it was too late. It was the end no doubt. How had he been foolish enough? He thought he had enough time to finish the war, heal mentally, physically, and emotionally before he can start considering taking religion classes, committing to it, even if not completely.
Committing was not hard, it just needed that one push. It was not complicated, in fact it was very simple. A person did not have to work in a church to be considered religious. A person did not have to be a monk to be considered religious. One did not have to be a full time community server, or have to wear a uniform and live in the church with a routine that revolved around God every other second of their lives. It was a process of sparing a specific amount of time a day to pray to God one's needs and wants, worship him and thank him for everything in life.
Harry knew he was mistaken. He should not have waited, for the doors of repentance will close soon (3). He used to think that he could not spare just a few minutes a day due to being bound to be a hero, a saviour. What will his saviour status, fame, and money do to him? Nothing. All he had been fooled himself into believing was wrong. There was no Merlin. There was no other God than Him, the one God that needs no other.
The air feels horrifying all of a sudden, and regret filled it. Not just his regret, but by many other souls all around him. There were among those people those who seemed to be at peace. How were they so calm in this condition of the world?
Oh.
They knew. It was as if this current state of their surroundings, the surroundings that seem like the eye of the hurricane, did not bother them. As if they knew it was coming, as if they were ready. They actually were.
Why were they ready and Harry was not? Why has he left being prepared till the very end that it was useless to begin now? No, he does not even have time to cultivate anything. He could not do anything now, for becoming a believer after the sun rises from the west will not be accepted by God (4).
Hermione woke up in bed alone that day. She had had a big fight with Ron a couple days ago, and she moved to a hotel room until they both cooled down. However, she had woken up later than usual that day. Upon habit, she opened the TV in her hotel room to see panicking people and a worried sounding reporter talking about the sun rising from the west. Hermione's memory spared no second in thinking about it. It immediately clicked. She momentarily composed herself as she remembered the books. The Bible, the Quran, the several other religion books. While so different, she recognized a few similarities between a Christian's Bible and a Muslim's Quran.
Judgment day. The sun rising from the west. The end. The after life. It all was so clear the time she read it. She shunned it out, and she was aware now. She was late... she knew it. It was unacceptable in her views. She had all the evidence in papers, all the proof in authentic words, but it was the bad part of her soul that ruined it all. It was scary, frightening, deadly. However, reading it is different than it actually happening, and seeing all the things she read happening will be even creepier. It will be something humanity has never witnessed.
Hermione dreaded the minute the next event appeared. Where the angel of death arrives, all beings will die after the First Trumpet sounds (5). She remembers. This sent shivers down Hermione's spine. If everyone and everything dies, the world will be engulfed in utter silence. Never once in Hermione's life did she witness complete silence, and neither will she this time for she will be dead, stilled. Where? No idea. What time exactly? No idea as well.
The world was simply ending right then and there, for the one, true Apocalypse was happening. The literal Apocalypse had come, and there was no turning back…
A/N:What was mentioned about judgment day was pretty much the truth, and I used the prompt 'Apocalypse' To describe it and how Harry and Hermione feel about it, maybe a little briefly. The numbers in the story will be explained from two sources: The Holy Quran, and the Christian Bible. Some ideas will be backed up with common information from both religion books. If uninterested, you can skip this.
(1) and (2): Scientific wise : NASA: The science of astronomy states that the speed of planet Mars has been decreasing in its course toward the eastern direction in the past few weeks. Wednesday 30th July the planet movement stopped going toward the eastern direction.Then in the months of August and September, Mars changed its course in the opposite direction to the West- and that until the end of September which means the sun rises now from the west on Mars! And this weird phenomena of the opposite movement is called "Retrograde Motion". Most scientists state that all the planets will go through the same once at least and our planet Earth is one of them. Planet Earth will move in the opposite direction some day and the sun will rise from the west.
(Author, me, cut out a few sentences due to their unnecessary presence)
Religion wise: Islam:
Abdullah-bin-Umar said, "I memorized a Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)which I have not forgotten. I heard the Messenger of Allah say,
'The first of the Signs that will come is the rising of the sun from the place of its setting and the emergence of the Daabba to people in Duha (later portion of the morning before noon). Whichever of these two (signs) occurs before the other, then the other one will occur immediately after it.' (Sahih Muslim)
(Underlined parts were not originally in the hadith, but they were added to clear any words mix up)
(3) Islam: Hadith: Safwan bin Assal narrated the Prophet (PBUH) said, "Allah has built a door of repentance where the sun sets, its breadth requires 70 years journey for foot passenger or 40-70 years for a rider. It will not be closed as long as the Sun does not rise from the West." (Tirmizi)
Islam: Quran: Surah Az-Zumar, Aya 54 "And turn in repentance to your Lord and submit to Him before the torment comes to you, then you will not be helped" and torment here means judgment day or death before it happens.
(4) Quran: Surah 32 (Al-Sajdah) Aya 11: Say, 'You will be taken away by the angel of death, who has been charged with you. Then you will be brought back to your Lord.'
Bible: Not available.
(5) Bible: Hebrews (9:27) "And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment"
Quran: Surah 55, (Ar-Rahman), Aya 26: "All that is on earth is to perish"
Surah 4, (Al-Nisa), Aya 87: "Allah, there is no god but He – He will most certainly gather you together on the resurrection day, there is no doubt in it; and who is more true in word than Allah?"