Chapter 8: The Attack on Anderton
"Hermione! Hermione!"
Hermione's eyes opened slightly. She looked through them, apparently seeing nothing, and then comprehended what was happening.
"Harry! Ron! Oh, I'm so glad you're here! It was terrible…"
Harry glanced around the common room, but there were only some second years playing Gobstones and a stressed-out seventh year doing his best to complete her charms homework. Most people were at dinner, so they could talk safely.
"So, do we really have to ask?"
Hermione gave a weak smile, and then grabbed them both in a hug.
"I missed you so much!"
Then she released them, and, businesslike, turned to Harry.
"Can I barrow Hedwig? I need to send a letter to my parents telling them I'm alright."
"Sure thing, she's up in the Owlery right now… but Hermione, you're not alright!"
"I'll be right back," she said, ignoring Harry's last comment.
They watched her climb through the portrait hole and looked at each other. There was a short pause.
"What do you think happened?" asked Ron.
"I don't know…"
"Do you reckon we should have let her sleep… she looked really tired."
"Probably. But we need to know what's going on. Whatever did that to her might be chasing her here."
"Do you reckon we should tell a teacher?"
"Knowing Hermione, everyone including Dumbledore knows by now. Although, from what we saw of him at the welcome feast, he's not looking too good."
"I just realized something," said Ron. "Dumbledore was the only person You-Know-Who ever feared. This means…"
"Yeah, we're pretty much screwed."
"Wow… with this, and then the Death Eaters you met on the train this summer… something's seriously wrong here."
"Let's here what Hermione has to say. She might be able to shed some light on what's going on."
They sat in silence, watching the kids play Gobstones until they heard someone coming through the portrait hole. They looked back immediately, but it was only a fourth year going up to his room to get something.
"This is so tense."
"Tell me about it. Where is she, she's taking a while!"
After what seemed like an eternity, they heard the Portrait creak open again, and saw Hermione crawling through. Harry noticed she was covered in scars and scratches that suggested she had run through a forest.
"Alright," said Harry as Hermione resumed her old position, "are you ready to tell us what happened?"
Hermione nodded and swallowed. The seventh year picked up his books and left for dinner, and the fourth year followed him out. The silence was thick, as if molasses had evaporated into the air. Harry and Ron stared at Hermione, waiting. She swallowed again and began.
"This summer, after leaving Viktor's house, I went to go visit my aunt and uncle in a town called Anderton. Well, it's not really a town. There are only about a hundred people there, and no shops or anything. It's terribly boring, everyone hates it there, but it's their vacation rest home. Everyone ends up watching TV the whole time…"
"Hey, Timmy the Tooth's on!" shouted Marybeth, Hermione's little cousin, to Robbie, her other cousin.
"I'm brushing my teeth," Robbie said badly through a mouthful of toothpaste.
"What on earth are you doing that for?" asked Hermione, exasperated. "You did it like two minutes ago. I mean, I know that everyone in the family is a dentist but…"
"But that was with an electric toothbrush," Robbie said, wiping his mouth as he entered the room. "An electric toothbrush is great for getting plaque, but not so good at getting between the teeth or down to the gums."
"Did you wash your mouth?" asked Marybeth.
"Twice, for five minutes each time, plus one saline wash for three!" Robbie said proudly.
"And floss?" asked Hermione dully.
"Oh! Thanks, Hermione, I didn't get the bottom half when I was flossing. Stupid me."
Sighing, Hermione lay back on her chair. It was looking to be three more days of boredom before the term at Hogwarts started. Just as she was about to get up and get a sugar-free soda, she heard a series of loud cracks, that sounded exactly like a wizard apperating or disparating. But there couldn't be any wizards here? Still, it was weird, what else could have made all those sounds. And it was still going on, there were more.
"Oh no! Isn't that the sound made when someone cracks a tooth? Hermione, I told you not brushing after chewing that dental gum was a bad idea!" wailed Robbie.
"Be quiet. I think something really serious is going on."
And then she heard a scream. She ran to the window. Seven wizards in the blue robes of the Ministry of Magic's defense squad including Lucius Malfoy were running down the hill into the town. Two townsfolk lay dead on the gravel at the center of town, which every house was grouped around. Hermione looked in horror as more and more wizards rushed down the hill screaming "AVADA KEDAVRA!"
"Stop this," yelled a shaken but strong girl's voice from just out of Hermione's range of vision. "There are only muggles here!"
"And you!" sneered Lucius Malfoy, but, nevertheless, many of the other wizards held back. Hermione realized this wasn't a set-up by the death eaters: there were real Ministry employees back there.
"Get them! Kill them all!" yelled Lucius.
"But-" began a portly, older wizard.
"Will you disobey your commanding officer's orders? GO!" screamed Malfoy.
"If it's us you want, we'll go quietly," shouted the girl who had spoken earlier.
But there was no use. The ministry wizards had surrounded the town and were casting killing curses on anyone who left their house.
"Hear me, muggles!" yelled Lucius. "If anyone is harboring a runaway band of witches and wizards in their house, report them immediately or you will all be killed!"
Hermione turned and ran outside. She watched as a dirty group of kids emerged from the abandoned house across the way.
"You evil bastards!" yelled a small, mousy-haired boy. It was the wrong thing to say.
"INCINAGRA!" yelled Lucius.
There was a flash of light and the abandoned house caught fire. Hermione dashed across the gravel clearing. Three ministry defense wizards shot stunners at Hermione's feet. She ran as quickly as possible, getting her wand out as she ran. The stunners hit the gravel, sending up showers of stones in the air. Hermione barely felt it as literally hundreds of stones ripped her shirt and tore deep cuts in her back, but she felt the blood washing down her spine, and new the pain was coming soon. She ducked and rolled across a nearby patch of grass, landing in a pack of six scruffy-looking kids who were repeatedly yelling "POREGO!" attempting to deflect the curses away from unlucky muggles.
"Get inside!" yelled an older boy wearing a Slipknot shirt.
"It's on fire!" Hermione yelled back as the other kids piled inside.
"So they won't go in there!" he yelled, jumping a burning beam. Hermione looked back at the forty or so approaching ministry wizards and again at the burning house. Neither way looked good, but she didn't have time to think. She ran and ducked under the beam. She briefly glanced up. Above her, and falling quickly was a burning rafter. She stared at it for a second, trying to comprehend through the dizziness caused by inhaling the smoke. Then she felt someone tug her out from underneath just as the rafter hit the ground sending up a cloud of cinders.
"Can you use that thing?" yelled a very small boy who looked somehow fierce, pointing at Hermione's wand.
"Of course!"
"Then do so! PORTEGO!"
Hermione turned, and saw through the waving mirage of heat and smoke two wizards running directly for them.
"IMPEDIMENTIA!" she yelled, that being the first spell that came to her mind. One stopped in his tracks, but the other continued on, smashing the beam aside. A tall girl with a ponytail plunged through a flaming doorway. Gritting her teeth, Hermione dived through after her, feeling the heat of the fire close by.
"Stand back" yelled the girl. "DESTRUCTIFY!"
She shot the spell to the burning rafters above. A cascade of embers fell on the ministry wizard.
"You just killed someone!" yelled Hermione, shocked.
"Yeah, I know," said the girl with a sarcastic smile. "That's sort of the point."
Hermione was feeling drowsy from the smoke, but the others seemed to be fighting on. The two smaller boys had left the cabin and were shooting the gravel to batter ministry wizards, and another, smaller girl was yelling "EXPELLIMENTRUS!" repeatedly disarming the blue-robed defenders.
Hermione looked around the room and found a burning log. Gripping it on the safe end she threw it like a spear at Malfoy. Malfoy's killing curse collided with it in midair and it exploded, sending fiery embers showering all over the battlefield.
The town had become a bloodbath. Hermione hadn't seen so much death in her life. Praying for strength, she yelled "PORTEGO!" disrupting another of Malfoy's killing curses. It flew off and killed another ministry wizard. But it soon became obvious to Hermione that there was no chance of winning this battle. The ministry were already receiving reinforcements, Hermione could hear the cracks of them apperating.
"We have to get out of here!" she yelled at the girl standing next to her.
"Tell me about it," she said grimly, pointing up. The house was collapsing on them. "Follow me…we've been staying here for two days, we know the back entrance."
The other five kids must have heard her because they, sending the last of their shield spells behind them, jumped through the ring of fire that the door had become and went with Hermione and the strange girl. As they ran, they began to feel the house shake beneath their feet. Hermione was hot, bleeding, and couldn't concentrate, she thought she would pass out from the smoke. They dived through another door into a kitchen. The entire room was on fire. Cooking oil and gas from the stove had spilled across the floor, and the roar of the blaze was deafening. They turned back.
"We're not going out the front doory thingy, are we?" asked a small girl with dirty blonde hair.
"No," yelled a third girl with long brown hair that was loose and, as Hermione noticed, was on fire.
"Whoa!" said Harry. "Annette's hair was on fire? Did she cut it all off, is she bald now?"
"You know these people?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah, I…uh…met them a couple of weeks ago in Little Whinging."
Ron looked up, too, with a slight grin on his face. "She's bald? Harry, if you date her, it'll be like dating E.T.!"
Harry stared at Ron for a second. "Did you read the note?"
"Well, you kind of left it hanging out of your pant's pocket…"
"I'll deal with you later… let's let Hermione finish her story."
They ran through the building, dodging falling pieces of wood, until they reached a wall. The ground was still shaking. Behind them, a roof caved in. Standing there, with a maniacal smile was Lucius Malfoy.
"DESTRUCTIFY!" shouted both the pony-tailed girl and Lucius at once. The pony-tailed girl was pointing at the wall in front of them, and Lucius was pointing at the ceiling above them. The wall fell in and the ceiling collapsed.
It fell in parts. First, tow rafters came crashing down, braking in two and sending sparks up in an almost festive manner. It was at this stage that they heard Lucius disparate. Then the walls started to cave in, board by burning board. Every board that fell spun wildly off into a different direction. Then the floor gave way to the basement nearly twenty feet below. They all grabbed onto the ledge, hanging. Using all their strength, the older kids, including Hermione, pulled themselves up and reached down to save the smaller children.
Just as she was hauling up the small boy, a burning board flew at them from the right. "Watch out!" yelled the girl whose hair was on fire, but it was too late. It took them both in the chest, sending them flying out of the building and onto the grass beyond, to which the flames were rapidly spreading. They rolled out from under the board and watched as all three of the girls jumped out through a gap and rolled along the grass. Then a flaming log fell and the gap was gone.
"KEVIN! ZACK!" yelled the fire-haired girl.
And then, suddenly, the wall was blasted outwards toward the watchers. Hermione and the others threw themselves to the ground, watching as, like a grim phantom, Zack stumbled out of the burning house carrying the ratty boy with him. The fire-haired girl, who had finally managed to put out the fire using the tried-and-true method of stop, drop and roll ran over to the boys.
"Kevin! Zack! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," the older boy said. "But let's get Kevin out of here."
"And let the villagers just die?" demanded Hermione.
"No," said the pony-tailed girl. "I'll get them all to safety. I don't think any of them but Lucius would be crazy enough to use an unforgivable curse on muggles, and Lucius, I bet you anything, disparated out of here for good."
Everyone seemed quite amenable to that. They ran down the hill and into the forest, stopping only when they reached a clearing.
"Is he dead?" asked the small boy, poking at Kevin's body.
"No," said the fire-haired girl, who was washing what she could out of her hair at a nearby brook, "but if you look at his charred skin, you can see he's suffered bad burns. Is he breathing?"
"No," said Zack.
"Damn it!" said the girl. Give him two breaths!"
"Can't we send him to St. Mungo's?" asked Hermione.
"Don't be so naive. Can't you see we're wanted criminals?"
"You seem like good people…"
"That has nothing to do with weather we're anted or not."
"He's still not breathing," reported Zack.
"Check for a pulse! This is so irritating; I might have to cut some of it off."
"Why are you worrying about your hair at a time like this?" demanded Hermione.
"Because it gives me something to do rather than to watch as Kevin dies."
"No pulse. Should I start compressions?" asked Zack.
"No… It's no use… let's dig a grave. Hey, girl, give me a hand here."
"It's as simple as that?" asked Hermione, who was choking back her own tears. All of them looked sad, but it was almost a deadened sadness.
"The Forgotten were, at first, fourteen. One escaped from our life. The rest… passed away. We can't let death worry us. We have to be strong, to keep going no matter what."
Hermione sat down and stared and started to cry herself. The pony-tailed girl returned to say the only villagers that had died were the two that Lucius had killed at the beginning. Hiding her face, Hermione got up and jumped into the stream. She barely even knew these people, yet, somehow, she felt for them.
They set up camp there on the clearing. That night, Hermione learned all their names and their story. As they fell asleep one by one, Hermione stayed awake watching the flickering flames die out on the hillside and on their campfire. She stood up, stretched, and, that night, left them, passing to look once more at Kevin's grave. Why was life so cruel? Why did it have to be this way?
"And you just walked to Hogwarts?" demanded Ron.
"Well, kind of…"
They both stared at Hermione. While Hermione had been telling her story, the light outside had faded. It was already nearly 10:00 and the only homework they had today was from Snape. Sighing, they all went up to their dormitories and lay on the bed. Later on, Harry could hear Neville and Seamus come in, unaware of everything, change, and, laughing at some private joke, fall asleep loudly. Malfoy came in a few minutes later. Harry looked over at Ron, and knew he was awake.
Kevin sends his greetings… They had written that in the latter that he had received that very morning. What had they meant by that? That letter had been written after Kevin had died. Harry looked up and silently cried. Turning to look at Ron and Malfoy, he realized he wasn't the only one.