Hermione followed the soldier silently through the many corridors that made up the building that was currently surrounding and imprisoning her. She did not ask questions. Too many things occupied her mind for any questions to arise. She counted each step. Twelve to the end of one corridor, down fourteen on a staircase, and another thirty down another corridor. Through a door, and then…
Hermione felt crushed as two sets of hands grabbed her tightly. She looked up, and found herself looking into her mother's eyes. They were bloodshot, and puffy, tears trickling gently down her cheeks. Hermione too began to cry, at last she felt safe, and at last she knew what had happened to her parents. She sank into her parent's grip, her face betraying all the emotions and feelings of the last few hours which had now began to force themselves out. Hermione shut her eyes, and hugged her mother tightly. Since she was a baby, she knew that her mother's arms were the place to seek comfort and understanding, no matter what the problem was. Hermione let all the pent up feelings flow out of her, all the painful memories, all the horrible sounds and images that circulated in her head, and pulled herself and her mother as close as possible, before completely dissolving into a sea of tears and sobs.
She felt a hand stroke her hair, and briefly opened her eyes and turned to look at her father. He wasn't crying, but a smile and a welcoming look displayed his joy at that moment, and like his wife, put his large, powerful hands around his daughter and held her closely. Hermione felt his rough stubbly chin press against her forehead, and she felt his strong arms encasing her, protecting her, making sure she would never be hurt again.
The Granger family held their pose for several minutes, letting the experiences of the past three days slowly drain out of them. Then, slowly, each member of the family, like some giant, living three-D jigsaw, let go of each other.
"Oh, Herm, I am so…" Mrs Granger began, her voice almost hysterical, her eyes concentrating on her daughter in front of her. "I was so worried, I thought they, oh, Hermione, thank god you're ok. Come on, let's get out of here, and let's get home, shall we?" Hermione looked up at her father, he merely nodded.
"Wait," said Hermione, a nagging thought springing up in her mind. "My friends, the rest of them…" Her voice trailed as she turned around to face the soldier. He was as unemotional as the rest of the soldiers she had met. She stared coldly at him, trying to keep the sadness out of her voice.
"What has happened to the others?" She asked, her eyes widening and unblinking, her eyebrows arching. The soldier didn't answer, and simply passed a sheet of paper to Hermione. On it were the names of all of her former classmates. Her eyes scanned down the list, looking at each name, and the little caption that accompanied entry.
Brown,
Lavender: Sustained serious injuries in blast, numerous broken bones and heavy
lacerations and burns, currently in a critical, but stable condition.
Hermione breathed a small sigh of relief. Lavender was okay. She continued down the list.
Crabbe,
? : Multiple fractures, currently under sedation, undergoing surgery.
Granger,
Hermione: Treated for minor injuries, no apparent side effects from the fall
out. Questioning complete, waiting for pick up
Hermione gave an incensed scowl at the list. Curiosity made her keep reading.
Goyle,
Gregory: Minor injuries, shock has been diagnosed.
Longbottom,
Neville: Treated for minor injuries. Massive physiological trauma has been
diagnosed. Treatment pending.
Malfoy,
Draco: Minor injuries, currently being held for questioning.
Parkinson,
? : Major burns, currently undergoing surgery.
Patil,
Parvati: Minor injuries, currently being questioned.
Potter,
Harry: Treated for minor injuries, no apparent side effects from the fall out.
Questioning complete, waiting for pick up.
Thomas,
Dean: Treated for minor injuries, no apparent side effects from the fall out.
Questioning complete, released on 8: 30 am 23/2/96.
Weasley,
Ginny: Major injuries including multiple fractures, currently undergoing
surgery.
So Ginny was okay, at least they were all okay. Hermione swallowed, her throat was dry, having not had a drink for a considerable amount of time. She continued down the list.
Weasley,
Ronald: Acute radiation poisoning detected, currently in critical and unstable
condition.
Hermione felt her stomach drop a few inches. She stared blankly at the words, and then clutched the paper with trembling hands. Ron was in real trouble. Terrible thoughts began to cloud her mind; the world around her seemed to blur, and images of the past four and a half years, with Ron and Harry, began to come into focus, spinning through her mind like an old slide show. In all those lessons, the quidditch practises, those lunch times in summer when they all sat on the great rolling greens lawns and Hogwarts, talking about what would happen in the future, what homework they had to do. Hermione began to grasp the concept that that part of her life was over, that she would never go back to that existence.
She collapsed once into tears, falling ungracefully to her knees, and cupping her face with her hands, the piece of paper falling onto the floor beside her. She shut everything else out, and she did not notice when the door opened again.
"Hermione?" sounded a familiar voice. She looked up.
"Harry" she mumbled through her sobs. She rose slowly, and felt Harry rush forward and help her up. Harry looked worse than Hermione, his face was worn, and large shadows lay under his eyes. He pulled Hermione into a hug, and softly comforted her. He closed his eyes, and let Hermione cry on his shoulder. He tightened his grip, as Hermione's own strength gave way, and looked up at the Grangers, who were watching their daughter with worried expressions.
"Lets get you out of here, shall we?" Whispered Harry, and turning Hermione so that she was facing the same direction as himself, and with his right arm supporting her body, he walked her out of another door into an underground car park. The Grangers followed behind them, Mrs Granger running up along Hermione's other side, and began helping Harry get her to the car. The Granger's had been a car by the army, an old Ford estate, to get back home in. Harry levered Hermione into the rear left-hand seat, Mr Granger went round and got in the drivers seat, and Mrs Granger got in beside her daughter.
She got out again as Harry was turning away.
"Harry, do you want to come back with us?" She called. Harry turned round in surprise; he didn't expect to hear that.
"No thank you, Mrs Granger, I'll stay here." He answered, but wasn't too sure about it.
"Well, you know with what's happened and everything…" She began.
"What's happened?" Asked Harry.
"You don't know, yeah you wouldn't, the muggle government has declared war against the wizards." Harry's face betrayed his disbelief.
"What, are you sure?" He replied, a hint of shock in his voice.
"Yes, we heard it on the news a few minutes ago, they say its you who are responsible for all those attacks, and that's why the army used that bomb, and, oh Harry, I'm so sorry." Harry gazed blankly at Mrs Granger, her face full of regret and sorrow. He felt his insides shake. He didn't know what to do. "Harry, please, come with us, otherwise I read to think what will happen to you." Harry, still in a state of disbelief, slowly made his way to the front left-hand seat of the car, and sat down. He didn't speak again; he just stared out the front windscreen. Hermione was still sobbing in the backseat, and Mrs Granger tried to comfort her. Mr Granger started the car, and drove out of the car park, down a small road, passed a security checkpoint, and sped out of the army base as fast as the car would go.
At six o'clock that night, the Prime Minister believed he had just the busiest day of his life. He had answered calls non-stop all day, confirming rumours, releasing some details, and arranging a meeting with the UN Security Council that would meet here in the conference room in the Peak District Command bunker. Another top secret landed on his desk, and he muttered bitterly as he opened. His face contorted with disgust and hatred as he read into the document.
Nottingham
attacked…at least 6,000 dead; maybe 10,000 wounded... 40% of the
city-destroyed…attack by a hundred or so wizards; their casualties numbering a
dozen at best…military units arrived too late… TA and emergency services over
the entire region have been mobilised…
Another hour passed, and the leaders of the US, Russia, China, and France, along with the Prime Minister, sat down at their relative places.
"Good evening, Gentlemen, let us begin."
"Hi John," Began The US President, "look, are you sure these guys are hostile, I mean, we ain't been havin' problems with these guys back over in the States."
"Trust me, they are." And the Prime Minister passed round the report that had been given to him an hour ago.
"Holy, Jesus John, I didn't realise."
"Yeah, I know, I got the report around an hour ago."
"Zo," began the French Premier "what are ve going to do about zis?"
"Well, we have to consider taking offensive military action."
"Excuse me, Mr Prime Minister," the Russian President spoke up. "But how are we going to take offensive action against them, they are very good at hiding, you know."
"Yes, well, lets take a look at what we know. We know that the largest wizarding communities are in southern Asia and Africa, followed closely by Latin America and the old European powers, and then into North America and Russia. I say this because we will have to fight together if we are to win this. And that means, the transfer of equipment and manpower." The US, Russian, and Chinese presidents stared piercingly at each other. "We also know that our tactical and communication abilities exceed theirs, however they possess much better transportation and medical facilities. We also know that radiation has a negative effect on their magical abilities…"
"Excusez moi, monsieur, but how do you know radiation has an effect on zese people?" Asked the French Premier, his brow furrowed.
"Tell me Jacques, does your government have the 'Schruder' document?"
"Ze what?" The US and Russian Presidents shifted uneasily in their seats.
"It's a document, concerning some experiments that were carried out by the Russians over forty years ago. The US, us and the Russian government have a copy, and you and the Chinese will also now be getting one soon. Essentially, it is about this German doctor who did some experiments on magic. Hang on" The Prime Minister pulled out another top secret folder and opened it. "Hans Schruder, born 1919, graduated from Berlin University in 1940, with a degree in medical physics. Was recruited by the Nazi party science division in July 1941. In January 1942 he was assigned to figure out why certain prisoners in the concentration camps were surviving much longer than others.
Now Schruder, you see, had a brother who was a wizard. He spotted straight away that these 'hardy' survivors were indeed wizards. He spent a few months travelling round the camps, and by that June he submitted a report to his superiors. Now, the Germans weren't stupid, they weren't about to let this opportunity pass up. He was ordered to study magic and learn everything that he could about them. He managed to study around a hundred different wizards. He conducted some brutal experiments on them, seeing if removing parts of their brains had an effect, whether or not being electrocuted diminished their abilities. He learnt a couple of things, such that a certain part of the brain that we do not use is the vital difference in physiology that's allows them to manipulate magic.
By July 1944, however, his work wasn't going to schedule, and with the allied armies pressing in on three fronts, his research was curtailed, and he disappeared with all his notes. No one can find him and he is presumed dead. Then, in 1948, he reappears in Russia, and begins his work again. This time he decides to see what happened when wizards were exposed to a nuclear blast. In 1952 he used a group of around 30 wizards and witches and placed at various points around a nuclear explosion. Those that survived, despite suffering heavy burns, managed to somehow avoid the usual radiation side effects. Another interesting thing was that various magical items placed around the same explosion disintegrated into ash, even when their surroundings were almost untouched.
Following more research along these lines, Schruder came to believe that magic had a similar effect on the body as radiation, and that radiation acts like an anti particle to magic. Hence, a wizards body can take a considerably more amount of radiation before they become ill. This also explains why they live longer, because their cells can regenerate more efficiently than ours can. However, the radiation also decreases their magical ability. All the test subjects were found to have lost around 50 to 70 percent of their magical ability.
Eventually, Schruder came up with an idea, a device that could manipulate magic, tap into the energy source the wizards were using, possibly even a new source of power, or even the possibility of a new weapon. You have to remember, this was the height of the cold war. In 1960 he managed to tap into this energy, and kept it stable for one and a half seconds, and then. BOOM, a massive explosion, maybe around a megaton or more, completely destroyed the facility, killing Schruder and nearly five hundred other scientists. His notes survived in Moscow, and we were able to 'purchase' them off a Russian intelligence officer for £10 million. We passed a copy onto the Americans. That, gentlemen, is why we used a nuclear weapon, we had to make sure that no magic was left, but it seems, we failed, and now we have a war on our hands."
The Prime Minister looked up at his counterparts. They were all staring back at him.
"Very well," Began the US President, "lets get to work…"