Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling
Dies the Fire is owned by SM Stirling
Slytherin Rising was created by J.L. Matthews

Chapter 4: Organizing for Survival

3-23

"Good morning" began Headmistress McGonagall. "And thank you for your patience. I know how uncomfortable it must be for most of you sleeping here on the floor of the Great Hall. I promise you that we are going to start building quarters for you in Hogsmeade today and we will try to get you out of here as soon as possible. Does anyone here have construction experience? Raise your hands. All of you follow me out of here. The rest of you stay and help Professor Sprout with the farming."

"All right, everyone, can I have your attention" yelled Professor Sprout. "I need to break you into groups based on how much knowledge of herbology you have. I would like everyone who got an "O" on the N.E.W.T. to stand in the North East corner of the room. Those who got an "E" on their N.E.W.T to stand against the North wall of the room. And those who got either an "A" on their N.E.W.T. or an "O" on their O.W.L. stand in the North West corner of the room. Also, those Muggles who have experience in farming, stand over there please. Of those of you who are left, if you got at least an "A" on your O.W.L. in Potions stand in the South East Corner. Okay, those of you who are left, both wizard and Muggle will be laborers. The other groups will be supervisors whose specialty will be based on their skill and area of expertise. Laborers, if you wish to use magic to aid in your labor, please clear it with your supervisor. Some of the magic we will be using to increase growth is very delicate and the wrong spell could interfere with it."

"Damn! This is hard work" swore Paul Granger as he continued to hoe up sod. "I'm really meant for more delicate work."

"Dad, Stop grumbling" said Hermione as she levitated some lose bits of sod into a cart. "You know as well as I do that we need to grow our own food if we want to eat."

"I know. I know" he conceded. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it." When they had first got to the mysterious school his daughter had gone to before she had dropped out to go chasing after some wizard terrorist called "the Riddler" (or something like that) he had been terrified by his first sight of a ghost. But once he had gotten used to the idea of dead people floating around, he learned to find the idea quite comforting. At least he now knew that there was some kind of afterlife. Still, the invisible horses that were pulling the sod carts were kind of disconcerting. Some of the wizards he was working alongside claimed to be able to see the invisible horses. His daughter and son-in-law were amongst them.

At the end of the day, the farm laborers walked to Hogsmeade for their new accommodations. Many of them were starting to grow tired of sleeping in the great hall of the school. They each looked forward to having their own dwelling. When they got to the village, a lot of the Muggles gasped! Their new home greatly resembled a set of barracks from a concentration camp!

"What a dump!" said Ron. "It's like something house elves would live in."

"That's unfair, Ron" said is wife. "What do you expect them to build to house all of us in a single day?"

"Speaking of house elves, check out the food line" said Ron pointing to a soup line that would not look out of place in a concentration camp except that the being serving the soup was a house elf.

3-25

"Thank you for coming" said Percy Weasley as he stood on the steps of the Boar's Head addressing the crowd of former Death Eaters and recently paroled prisoners from Azkaban. "Some of you have been convicted and recently released from Azkaban. Others have never been apprehended or even accused of crimes. You are all being offered amnesty for the same reason that those of you who were prisoners have been released. Your former Dark Lord is dead and much of what you were fighting for is moot. The Ministry can not afford both to ensure the survival of wizardkind through the crisis and to fight a war that has become moot, anyway. In the coming dark days, most of the Muggles are expected to die and many of your dreams will come true. By the same token, we can't afford to keep feeding prisoners that contribute nothing to society. So, we have come up with a way for you to contribute to the survival of wizardkind that utilizes your unique skills.

Although the existence of Hogsmeade is not know in the Muggle world, Muggles may still stumble across the village by accident. We've already had to expel a few Muggle refugees that wandered into town on foot. So, we are going to set up a perimeter around both the school and town combined. The inner perimeter will be patrolled by Aurors. The outer perimeter, will be patrolled by all of you. In order to expedite the efficiency of your efforts, use of the Unforgivables will be authorized under the following conditions: When the Muggle first approaches, you may use the Imperius Curse to make them go away. Some people can throw off the Imperius Curse. If your target does this, you may use the Cruciatus Curse to drive them away. Only after you have use the first two and failed to drive them away may you use the Avada Kedavra Curse to dispose of your target."

"In other words, you need us to do your dirty work for you" Draco Sneered.

"Yes, we do" Percy conceded. "But we don't need each and every one of you. Remember, if you use the Unforgivables in any circumstances other than the ones we've outlined for you, you will be cast out of the village. Until we can ensure our own survival, that is the harshest penalty we can impose. Does anyone object to working with us under these conditions? . . . No, Good. Report to Auror Shaklebolt for your assignments."