Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling.
Chapter One - Haunted
Harry Potter was not supposed to die. The whole of the wizarding world had been in shock when they found that Lord Voldemort had taken over all of England. And yet no one seemed able to stop him now that their savior was dead.
Harry had been seventeen when he fought Voldemort and lost. Four years passed and still the Dark Lord lived on and grew stronger. His army was the largest in the world and no one dared oppose him - or so he thought.
Deep underground lived a group of radicals who called themselves, simply, "The Order." The group had formed a year ago and their leader decided that now was the time to train and recruit.
This day was special for the Order as their leader would be addressing them with an important announcement.
The meeting room was made entirely of stone and lit only by candles. There were hundreds of wooden benches which faced a small wooden stage, on which stood a podium.
The room quickly filled with all the members of the Order. Permeating through the air was the sound of hundreds of murmuring voices and the smell of dirt and an underground river.
A young woman of about twenty-one with curly brown hair and intelligent brown eyes walked up to the podium. The room instantly quieted and the woman began to speak.
"Good evening everyone. For those of you who don't yet know who I am, my name is Hermione Granger." She waited for the shocked whispers to die down before continuing. "Yes, I was best friends with our fallen hero, Harry Potter. I was with him the day he was murdered by Voldemort. Not only was my best friend killed but the creature called the Dark Lord murdered my parents and my lover, Ronald Weasley." She paused as she fought for control over her emotions. It had been four years but for her the pain was still fresh and raw. Talking about it was hard but necessary.
"Voldemort has taken our loved ones from us. He has taken our beloved country away from us. He even terrorizes the Muggles and killed their royalty. He has built an enormous army of not only wizards and witches but of magical creatures - werewolves, dragons, giants, dementors and many other creatures too numerous to name them all. He is planning on world domination and we must stop him. But we cannot fight alone - nor can we go up against his armies. No, our battle will be quiet and subtle until the end. It will be dangerous and it will be hard but if we all stand together we will win this war!" she shouted the last line and everyone in the room shot to their feet and sang out a war cry.
Eventually the noise faded and Hermione continued. "Most of you know all that already and it's not why I've called you here. I have a few announcements to make that I believe will help our cause. First of all our biggest focus right now is on recruitment. I am sending two people to every country in the world and you are to recruit as many magical creatures as you can. These 386 people will be specially trained in recruitment. We will give them two years. After those two years are up we will move on to the next stage of our plan which will be revealed at the end of those two years. Our second focus is on finding magical children and bringing them here for training. Right now we have 800 people living in this underground city and not one is under eighteen. I know that it is hard to make relationships during a time of war but as of this day forward we have enacted a law that every single adult between the ages of eighteen and fifty must be married within the next year. This may seem horrible but we need children to continue on to the next generation! And who better to raise them than our community? Not only must we have our own children but we are going to go to the world above and find children and bring them here. Steal them if you must - we need as many people as we can get! Must I remind you that Voldemort's army numbers in the tens of thousands and we have only 800? It is time to put our freedom aside and do what must be done. Are you with me?"
The crowd cheered and Hermione ended the meeting.
"That was quite a speech," a red-haired young woman told Hermione as she walked toward her. Hermione smiled sadly. "I hate talking about the past."
Ginny sighed. "You know you have to let him go. I let Harry, Ron and dad go a few years ago. You can't keep holding on to them. The pain will only worsen with time and I hate to see you so unhappy."
Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "But I feel as though if I were to let go I would be betraying him."
Ginny put her arm around her friend's shoulders. "Hermione, you know that Ron would want you to be happy. So would Harry. That's what I finally accepted. You know that if Ron and Harry could see us right now they would be telling you to move on."
Hermione opened the door to her apartment. Ginny followed her inside.
Hermione's apartment had been made by her, mostly through transfiguration. The stone walls were covered with red and gold Gryffindor pendants. The floors were a red carpet. There was a red velvet couch with gold pillows and a matching armchair to the east side of living room as well as two bookshelves filled with books. On the west side was a mini kitchen with black appliances. To the south of the room was the front door as well as a mahogany writing desk. To the north of the room were two doors. One led to the bathroom, decorated entirely in gold and the other led to the bedroom. The bedroom had a huge four-poster canopy bed, mahogany wood with red and gold bedding and a gold canopy. Also in the room were a matching vanity table, mirror and wardrobe.
Hermione sat down on her couch and watched Ginny sit in the armchair across from her. "What people are you sending to recruit in England?"
Hermione's expression changed to one of business now that they had come to a topic she wasn't trying to avoid. "Myself and Richard Grey."
Ginny nodded. Hermione had already informed the 386 people of who they were and where they were going. She had also told them that there would always be a man and a woman. The women would recruit men and the men would recruit women. Ginny had been assigned to go to France with Antonio Lopez.
Hermione folded her hands and leaned back. "The recruiting training starts tomorrow and it will be hard. We only have two weeks to train 385 people and only 200 instructors, including myself. Even you must be trained."
"Why?" Ginny asked curiously. She had learned the same things Hermione had in school so she wasn't sure why she had to take extra training when Hermione did not.
"Because the training we will be giving has to do with subtlety and safety. Also we will be giving a crash course on Legilimency and Occlumency so you can block your minds and yet read others to know whom you should approach and whom you should stay away from. Of course we will be touching on invisibility spells and notice-me-not spells. Thankfully we retrieved a very large shipment of invisibility cloaks which we will be handing out to half of the recruiters, meaning one person in each group will receive one. We will also give you the spell to Apparate here in an emergency and how to, with absolute certainty, keep someone from following you. There are a few other things you will be taught as well - so you see why you must take these courses?"
Ginny, her eyes wide, nodded. Hermione took out her wand and flicked it at the kitchen. A silver tray with settings for tea for two floated into the living room and landed on the coffee table in front of them.
Hermione fixed Ginny a cup of tea and then fixed one for herself. She flicked her wand again and a Victrola began to play a beautiful French Opera.
The two women sipped their tea and listened to the music but did not speak for a very long time.
A man dressed completely in black knelt in front of a thin, pale man with red glaring eyes and a hideous expression. The Dark Lord stared at his most faithful servant. "Rise, Severus."
Severus stood and met his master's gaze. "You have summoned me, my lord?"
Voldemort sat on his black throne and motioned that Severus should sit at his feet. Severus did so without hesitation. "I did summon you. I have a mission for you. Are you interested in accepting it?"
Severus was not surprised by his master's request. Voldemort, ever since coming into power, had been less demanding of his most faithful servants - though he was still cruel to anyone he considered beneath his Death Eater's rank and to anyone who disobeyed him.
"I am master," Severus replied solemnly.
Voldemort almost smiled. "I am glad that you are so eager to serve me. You know of this group that calls themselves the Order?"
Severus nodded. "I do master."
"Good. You are to infiltrate their ranks and find out who their leader is. When you do you will bring him to me. Of course while you're there you will report any move they make whenever you can. I will expect reports every week. Do you understand, Severus?"
Severus nodded once again. "I do, master and I am ready and willing to do what you ask of me."
Voldemort did smile this time but it was not a nice smile. In fact it would make anyone but a Death Eater cringe in fright and disgust. Severus, however, had total control over his emotions - or so he thought.
"Then go my pet and do not fail me."
A/N: Hope you guys liked my first chapter. Can anyone guess where the last line came from? HINT - it's from a movie (and no, not an HP movie). Let me know what you think of my story so far by reading and reviewing!
Special Thanks to my Beta Reader: Danielle