Theme: Roanoke
Prompts:
7. [dialogue] "We're disorganised mourners"
13. [dialogue] "I feel like perhaps I am not being taken seriously"
15. [setting]: Dusk
Word count: 1255 words
They arrived with a faint 'pop', appearing behind a large oak tree at dusk, the final beats of the sunset dipping behind the Hog's Head. The air felt brisk, a light rain had just fallen, everything felt damp and bleak, reflecting the mood of the trio. This was it. The final battle. Travelling from place to place for the last nine months had led them here. Every clue left by Dumbledore, every near death encounter, every retrieved horcrux, brought them to this moment, just outside the gates of Hogwarts. They just needed to make it through Hogsmeade undetected. According to the Potterwatch, the village was under an evening curfew and was constantly being patrolled by Death Eaters. Having recently escaped from Snatchers and Malfoy Manor, Harry, Ron and Hermione were not thrilled about the idea of encountering them again.
The gas lamps along the streets were just coming alive against the setting sun. Potterwatch had said there was a curfew in place and that all residents were to be in their homes by nightfall. Harry expected there to be a lot of activity with people scurrying to get home before the curfew, but the streets were empty. There was no sign of life. Faint light shone from windows of houses and shops. From somewhere in the distance they could hear the faint music from a wireless. Keeping to the shadows to preserve the appearance of the disillusionment charm they navigated along the outskirts of Hogsmeade until they reached the High Street. They didn't encounter a single person.
"This is weird." Ron voiced what they were all thinking. "Where is everyone?"
The sun had not set yet. Perhaps if they moved quickly they could get through the village and up to Honeydukes without raising any alarms. The plan was to get to Hogwarts using the secret passage that ran through the cellar of the sweet shop. As they moved along the High Street towards the sweet shop they peered into the windows of the storefronts. Candles were lit but there was no sign of human life. With every passing window they saw the same thing. Nothing.
Harry became curious. Sticking his hand outside of his invisibility cloak to get Ron and Hermione's attention, he told them to wait, then he crossed the street to peer into the windows of the Three Broomsticks Pub. Surely there would still be some activity coming to a lull in the most popular venue in the village. Cupping his hands against the glass, Harry looked in, finding the same sight as all the windows they had passed. Nothing. There were drinks and half-eaten food on the tables, the wireless was playing a Weird Sisters song. A low fire burned in the grate. By all appearances Harry would have expected to see Madame Rosemerta exiting the kitchen with a tray to clear the tables but the room was empty.
"It's as if everyone just vanished," Harry heard Ron say at his left shoulder, although he couldn't see him.
"Don't be stupid, Ron. People don't just vanish," Harry heard Hermione say from his right. "She must still be in the kitchen or upstairs."
"Then where is everybody else? We've been here for five minutes and we haven't seen a single person."
"I don't know. But people don't just vanish. There has to be some explanation. Did Potterwatch say anything about Hogsmeade being evacuated, Harry?" Hermione asked, she was always the voice of reason, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Use your brain, Hermione. If they had evacuated, they would have turned out the lights and shut off the wireless. I'm telling you, they just vanished," Ron insisted. When neither of his friends showed signs of agreement, Ron muttered, "I feel like perhaps I am not being taken seriously," before walking further down the street towards Madam Puddifoot's. The scene in the ditzy cafe was much the same. Empty tables, food and drink left abandoned, lights flickering on the walls and faint music coming from the wireless. A ladies handbag sat on a table and a bowler hat next to it. The scene was an eerie tableau of a date interrupted. Making his way back to the others who were still standing outside The Three Broomsticks, made a suggestion.
"Let's wait a little to see if anything happens. If anyone appears."
"Fine," Hermione agreed, reluctantly.
Harry wanted to get back to the mission. He wanted to get up to safety but couldn't deny that he was curious about what was happening in Hogsmeade.
The trio retreated to the alley next to Madam Puddifoot's to wait for the cover of darkness. When darkness fell the lack of activity in the village became even more pronounced. The lights that were on in the shops and homes were blaring against the inky black. The disparate noises coming from the wirelesses dotted around the village injected confusion into the din, but there were still no signs of people. Potterwatch had said there was a nightly Death Eater patrol in the largest wizarding village in the UK but even that was missing. Stepping out of the alleyway onto the street, the trio were cautious, wondering if their movement would trigger an alarm. When no signal or caterwauling sounded and no one in skull masks appeared to haul them away, they took the opportunity to drop their guard a little. Retreating back to the shadows of the building they removed the disillusionment charms and took the invisibility cloak. Harry looked around curiously. Hundreds of people lived and worked in Hogsmeade. There was no way they could all just disappear. Ron was right. If they had evacuated, they would have closed their shops and houses and taken their belongings. This was something else.
"Hermione, has anything like this ever happened before? Has a whole village ever just gone missing?" If anyone knew about something like this, Harry was sure it would be Hermione.
"No, never -" she began, before interrupting herself. "Well actually, I read about something happening in America, before it became a country. But there was never any real proof that they vanished."
"Did they die?" Harry asked.
"No one knows."
"Do you think all the people in Hogsmeade died?" Harry asked next.
"Well if they died, we're disorganised mourners, don't you think? We didn't even know it happened. No one knew it happened," Ron interjected.
"I don't think they died," Hermione continued. "Various reports are that something happened and the villagers left their settlement and assimilated into the nearby native tribes but nothing was ever confirmed. There were no bodies, no signs of life, no indication that anything happened. Just one word carved into a tree. People thought it meant they had gone to that settlement but no one ever confirmed."
"What was the word," Ron asked, looking around as if he expected the word to just jump out at him.
"Let's look around. There has to be something here," Harry interrupted.
The trio spent the next two hours searching the village of Hogsmeade for any signs of life or any signs that would tell them where all the people went but there was nothing. Finding nothing they made their way to their original destination of Honeydukes to navigate the tunnels to Hogwarts. Perhaps someone up at the school would be able to explain what happened.
On the outskirts of the village, by the caves where Harry, Ron and Hermione had met Sirius in secret during their fourth year, carved into the rock was a single word.
CROATOAN.