Chapter 2: The Aftermath
Hermione opened her eyes slowly, the scenes of injury and pain slowly flooding her view. She tried to move her arm, but found it trapped underneath a table that had been pinned down by a piece of the stone roof that had caved in. She struggled vainly, but the stone was too heavy, and the burns on her other hand and arm made any attempt at pulling extremely painful.
She relaxed a moment, and let her eyes focus on the rest of the room. Many people were trapped underneath overturned furniture or fallen masonry, whilst others sat clutching terrible burns, some almost making Hermione bring up her breakfast. Lavender had a massive burn down her back where her robes had caught fire, and Seamus was clutching his hand, blood soaking through his fingers. His face was red, apart from his eyes, where white handprints showed how he covered himself from the blast.
Then she remembered.
"Harry, Ron" she cried, only to be answered by moans of agony and despair. Then she spotted Ron, he was sitting on the floor, a vacant expression on his face and his arms covered in burn marks and blood.
"Ron," Hermione whispered, Ron slowly turned to her, "help me, please?" Ron slowly got, and tried to grab his wand. It turned to dust in his hand, its magical core giving a few bright sparks before it too disintegrated. He stared at the pile of ash in his hand. He closed his hand into a fist, and the ashes, now stained with blood, poured out like red sand onto the ground below. He stood there for a moment, looking at his empty hand, and turned to Hermione.
"What, what happened?" he stuttered, glancing around the classroom. Tears began to form in his eyes. He walked over to where Hermione was trapped. He just about managed to shift the stone, and lifted the table enough to let Hermione crawl out. She got up, and hugged Ron like some friend she hadn't seen in years. They held each other for what seemed like an eternity. They had both started crying, their ears filled with terrible sounds of their fellow classmates.
"Come on" Hermione whispered. "We have to find Harry, and then help the others." She went for her wand, and was relieved to find it blackened, but intact and functioning. They found Harry underneath another pile of stones. Luckily for Harry, the stone pieces had kept him well covered, resulting in much less severe burns that the other students had. They began to help the other students nearby by summoning bandages and removing rocks and furniture where it had trapped people.
Mrs Granger walked back into the house after watering her garden. It was one of her few days off, and she was going to enjoy it. Gardening was one of her passions, and she was constantly annoyed that her job didn't leave her enough time to manage a proper garden.
She sat down in the living room, removed her shoes, and turned on the telly to watch the news. She picked up a magazine and settled back deeper into the armchair. Then the first news story caught her attention.
"The British government confirmed a few minutes ago that a nuclear device was launched and detonated in the mountains of Scotland. The device, a single 125 kiloton warhead, about seven times more powerful than the device that levelled Hiroshima, was used against a large terrorist base in the area, we now take you over live to the defence minister, the right honourable Sir Brian Dunford." The defence minister appeared in a screen in the top left hand corner of the screen. "Well, minister, firstly, why did you use these powerful weapons when there are other alternatives available?
"Well, first of all, the size of this facility was huge, way too big to destroy with any other weapon we had. This group, if not destroyed instantly, would have dispersed immediately and we would not have another attempt at destroying them in one go."
"So, the attack, achieved its purpose?"
"Well yes, if you at these photos taken by a
reconnaissance plane about ten minutes after the blast…" A few pictures of a burnt out landscape appeared,
with what looked the remains of a large fort or castle in one corner and little
black marks, which had once been houses in the other corner. And in the centre
was an unmistakable crater, nearly twice as large as the remains of the castle,
and a massive white cloud hung over the centre, nearly level with the camera. "As
you can see, the entire area has been devastated…" Mrs Granger didn't need to hear anymore, she recognised the area from
pictures her daughter had sent her. She got up, and ran to the telephone, and
started dialling her husband's workplace. The 'engaged' tone filled her ears,
and tears began to fill her eyes. She activated the 'ring back' button, and
returned to the telly.
"Well, minister, do you believe it was right to use nuclear weapons, certainly of this magnitude, over the British Isles? There will be a strong concern from many people about the effects of fallout, particularly in the Scottish countryside?
"Well, the site of the explosion contained the blast, sending most of the cloud and therefore most of the radiation straight up into the atmosphere, and so by the time it returns to earth it will be harmless. However, the entire area of this map will be declared off limits to all civilian activity, including air travel. Anyone breaking this cordon will be arrested, and any aircraft or vehicle entering without permission and refusing to stop will be dealt with using all the force required. Government scientists are currently checking radiation levels all over Scotland and in no inhabited area has there been an exposure greater than the recommended safety level. That is all we have to say on the subject."
"One last question, minister, what are the chances of any survivors?"
"The likelihood of anyone surviving the impact is so remote that it is fairly safe to assume that no-one survived. Anyone who was not killed in the initial blast would be dead in an hour or so from acute radiation poisoning.
"Thank…" Mrs Granger
turned the telly off. She felt a surging hatred rise in her chest. She started
yelling.
"Bastards, you
stupid bastards!!! Hermy, my sweet, oh god, no, please no…" she broke down into
tears. She picked up a plate off the cabinet and threw straight on the floor as
hard as she could. The plate smashed over the floor, before she too collapsed,
her eyes red, her hands in fists, and her mouth cursing everyone else on the
planet. She had lost her daughter, to some bastards who couldn't care less.
A/N Well, I had to
write a new part after all. So R/R please, and those of a squeamish nature
should not have read it. I hate nuclear weapons personally, but sometimes
reading the books you learn that wizards don't view muggles as being much of a
force to reckon with. The purpose of this story is see how wizards react to the
true power of muggles when they are threatened. You'll learn the proper reason why
they used nukes later.
Anyway, disclaimer: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley etc belong to JK Rowling. The warhead belongs to the British and American governments, and Brian Dunford belongs to moi, if anyone cares.