Libertas

by Tabari Avaren

On June 1, 1997, the Wizarding world must bury the greatest symbol of the Light since Merlin. On June 2, the war will begin in earnest. This is an effort to precreate the world and story of Rowling's final book.

1. Prologue

Prologue

Of the two hundred-odd students who usually returned home on the Hogwarts Express at the end of each year, perhaps a few less than one hundred fifty actually boarded the scarlet steam engine on June 1, 1997. Many had returned home shortly after Dumbledore's death; more had returned directly with their parents following the fallen headmaster's widely-attended funeral. Those who did choose to ride the train home – or were faced with no other option – clambered into their compartments with significantly less good cheer than was the norm at the end of term.

For one thing, it was not strictly the end of term; Hogwarts, if it were to run by its original schedule, had another three weeks before classes would be formally over, and even after that there were usually several days of rest for an exam-exhausted student body. As it was, war and politics and terrified parents were to bring all the students home even before the Examiners from the Wizarding Examination Authority could administer the O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s.

Yet there was some laughter, some hope. The war had not yet so jaded the children that all could see the thestrals gleaming in the late spring sunlight, and even after funerals, even looking forward to a long and hellish war, children are inclined to laugh at the end of term, especially when the sun is high and a perfect breeze is blowing through compartment windows, ruffling hair and playing cards.

With a clatter and a bang, the engine leapt forward from the station. The train would be accompanied by a contingent of Aurors, both in the compartments and above, on brooms; a significant Ministry presence also guarded King's Cross, where, hours before the train was even due to arrive, hundreds of parents would assemble to see home their children. Even the parents of Muggle-borns had been informed that something was awry, and so the mothers of Dean Thomas and of Dennis and Colin Creevey, and of Hermione Granger, would wait tight-lipped and terrified beside the robed fathers of Lavender Brown, and Ernie MacMillan, and Daphne Greengrass, united if only briefly in a fellowship of worry.

Upon arrival of the school train, these crowds would disperse quickly, for fear hung heavy upon all assembled, and none wished to linger as evening grew increasingly dim.