"Long, Long, Long"

PART TWO: THE PREDICTED WAR

Hermione did not return to Gryffindor tower of her own will; she was found by Professor McGonagall, who thought Hermione was worried only about Harry and was fairly understanding, but insisted that Hermione return to her dormitory and pack any valuables that she could carry in a small bag. Hermione said nothing to her head of house, but nodded and did as she was instructed.

The other girls in her dormitory were thankfully asleep when Hermione arrived, so she sat on her bed and drew the curtains closed around her. She later heard the others wake up and head down to breakfast, unaware of the news they would soon receive. When the dormitory was empty save herself, Hermione opened her bed curtains and pulled together a few of her most valued possessions.

She was only half-conscious as she did all this; she had been in a kind of trance the entire morning. Somehow, her almost dream-like state was easier to handle. She didn't have to think about anything, so she didn't.

Hermione only came back to earth when the sounds of hurried footsteps and anxious voices reached her ears. The students had just been told about the war and were undoubtedly back in the tower to, like Hermione had, pack the few things they needed to keep. Sure enough, her roommates soon loudly swung open the door of the dormitory, talking noisily, unaware of her presence.

Being the only one not in a state of panic, fear, or shock, Hermione slowly made her way down to the common room, her book bag slung over her shoulder. Professor McGonagall was congregating some students in a corner, and Hermione walked over in that direction. Ron was down a minute or so later. He walked over and stood next to Hermione but the two said nothing.

"Is that everyone, Ms. Brown?" Professor McGonagall asked a few minutes later, seeing Lavender coming down the dormitory steps. Lavender nodded and joined the mass of Gryffindors in the common room. "Students, follow me please," said Professor McGonagall, pushing open the portrait hole and gesturing for the Gryffindors to follow her.

They were led out of the castle and onto the cold, wet grounds. Hermione could see the immense groups of people that were the other three houses, each led by their own Head. When everyone was on the border of the grounds, the Heads of House turned to their pupils and spoke. Hermione could only hear McGonagall's words over the rain, but she had a feeling the other Heads were saying similar things to their houses.

"Students!" shouted Professor McGonagall over the harsh sounds of the weather, "Please give me your attention! Everyone under the age of sixteen will be leaving on the Hogwarts Express shortly and will return to their respective homes. Those of you who are sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen, you have been given the choice of joining Dumbledore's side for the war or returning to your parents."

The students immediately started whispering to each other. "What are you going to do?" Hermione heard Neville ask Seamus worriedly. "I'm going home," responded Seamus, "I'll join up later, though." Similar conversations were sprouting up everywhere.

"Are you staying?" Hermione asked Ron, although she knew the answer.

"Of course," said Ron immediately, "Can't let Harry down, can I?"

Hermione nodded and turned back to McGonagall, but Ron asked, "You're joining too, right?"

Hermione thought for a moment. She knew she would join, but she wasn't as confident in that decision as Ron seemed. Suddenly, she wasn't all that eager to fight in the war. She knew she would; it was the right thing to do, and deep down, she knew that she wanted to. But right then, her keenness to fight the Dark side was lower than it had ever been. Obviously the thought of fighting against Draco lingered in the back of her mind--though she kept reminding herself that the chance of the two of them ever meeting during the war was extremely slim--but that was only part of it. Now that the war had actually arrived, she felt slightly nauseated thinking about the fact that she might soon be trying to actually kill people, evil as they might be. Even so, she replied, "Of course I am."

Slowly, the younger students, along with some of the older ones, made their way down to Hogsmeade station. The few remaining people watched them go, standing in the heavy rain and waiting for instructions. Hermione briefly wondered if her parents had been notified of the evacuation, but then realized Dumbledore would have made sure all the families knew what was going on. All the same, Hermione hoped her parents wouldn't worry too much about her; they were so protective.

Hermione's thoughts were interrupted by Professor McGonagall's voice, "Students! Follow me please, and keep up with the group!"

There were about thirty students remaining, and they all picked up their belongings and did as they were told. They were led to the edge of the forest, and then on into the forest itself. Hermione wondered where on earth they were going and how long it would take to get there. Would they go directly to the heart of the forest? Would they still be amongst the dark trees and magical creatures when nighttime came?

The forest thickened, and despite their effort to keep together, the group slowly separated, traveling in tight groups. The sky grew harder and harder to see, and eventually, it was lost altogether in the thick, dark branches. Although this meant they no longer felt the rain, Hermione wished the sky was at least visible; the darkness was unnerving.

Gradually, all the students and Professors had pulled out their wands and lighted them in hopes of seeing better. Hermione didn't know how long they traveled; for seemingly endless hours they walked on. Hermione had never realized just how huge the forest was. They were still clearly towards the middle part; the trees were still very close together.

Then, not too far away, Hermione thought she saw some natural light coming through the trees. She doubted it was the opposite edge of the forest, so was it a clearing of some sort? When the students reached it, the Professors stopped them and waited until the entire group had made it. Hermione noticed while she was waiting that the rain had stopped, though the sky was still overcast.

Once again, Professor McGonagall stood before them all to speak. "Students," she said, "We will stop here. This is to be our training grounds, according to the Headmaster's orders. We will camp here until you are all ready, or until another reason to move is made clear.

"You will be divided into groups of five or six and each group will have the supervision of at least one Professor. We have a few materials for you to make shelters of, though I am afraid there are not enough for all to be as comfortable as they are used to.

"Now, when I call your name, please remember your group number…" Professor McGonagall pulled a list from her robes that she had obviously made earlier or during the trip. Hermione found herself only half-listening. Her mind was on Draco, and where he might be at that moment.

She had tried not thinking of him, but how could she not? How could she possibly just forget about him and not worry about him until the end of the war? No one could do that. She felt tears trying to form again, but she fought them off. Maybe, if she was lucky, she'd be busy enough in training to forget.

…

Draco's mother opened the door to the manor when he knocked. She smiled when she saw him and gave him a quick hug. "Welcome back, Draco. Your father's waiting for you in his study."

Draco left his belongings by the front door and headed down a hallway to his left. He looked darkly at the strange magical objects that decorated the hall. He had no idea what each of their individual functions were, but knew that his father had collected them around and before the time of Draco's birth, when the Dark Lord had first risen to power.

He reached the dark wooden door that marked his father's study and hesitated before knocking. Draco knew he didn't want to hear anything that his father was going to tell him. Even so, he raised his first a knocked twice, as his father had instructed him to do since the age of six.

"Come in, Draco," said Lucius through the door.

Draco entered the room and after closing the door behind him, sat down in the black chair opposite his father's desk. The place was as dim and cold as it had always been. What did his father have against natural light?

"Clearly you've received my letters over the past months. I trust you were the only one to read them?" asked Lucius.

Draco's heart skipped a beat, but he tried to sound honest when he said, "Yes, sir."

"You're positive?" Lucius wore a small smile that had always made Draco nervous.

"Yes," said Draco, not daring to look his father in the eye.

"Good. I was careful to not give away many details, just in case they were somehow intercepted, but it is best that no one else knows of their existence." Lucius pushed aside a stack of parchments that he had been examining before Draco entered and leaned forward slightly in his chair. "Now that you are here, I can tell you more than I've been able to while you were at school.

"The start of the war happened late last night at the Ministry of Magic. Any leads the Ministry had on former or suspected Death Eaters were destroyed, the few employees still there at that hour were killed, and the Dark Lord himself left a very clear message burned into the floor that let everyone know the war had begun. You needed to know that to understand where we currently are and what has already happened. By the end of the day, the entire magical community will know and start to panic, and we have plans to use that to our advantage, not to mention the fact that the Ministry has now lost all the information it had on any Death Eaters or where they might be." Lucius had a strange look in his eye, which Draco imagined could only be happiness, having rarely seen it before in his father's features. How sad it was that the only thing that made Lucius Malfoy genuinely happy was the death of others and the triumph of evil people.

Lucius continued, "I cannot give you any more information on plans or your part in them until after your pledge of devotion tomorrow night. We talked about this before; do you remember the general proceedings?"

"Yes," said Draco. He felt numb as he realized that after tomorrow, he would be officially recognized as a servant of the Dark Lord. It was a horrible thought, but what choice was there? He had known this was coming, but he hadn't taken the time to prepare for it. He realized now that he should have; maybe then the idea wouldn't seem as appalling as it did now.

"Then you are free to go to your room and get settled. You may not leave the house except to follow orders, which will be given to you tomorrow or the day after."

Draco stood and left the study, closing the door behind him. Locked in the manor except for when he was given instructions to kill people, how wonderful.

Draco felt that his current state of gloominess would not disappear anytime soon, and though this depressed him, what had he expected? He took his bag up to the second floor, where his old bedroom was. He opened the door and found that the large room had grown stuffy and dusty in his absence. He crossed to the other side and opened the blinds of his two windows. Green fields stretched out below under the overcast sky and Draco wondered why he had never noticed before what a nice view he had from this room.

He sat on his windowsill looking into the distance for quite some time, not having anything else to do and feeling the need to think quietly on his own for a while. He wondered if, over the next year or so, he would have a lot of time to think like this, and if so, if that would be what eventually drove him to insanity.

…

The students were divided into their groups. Hermione was in the same group as Ron, with Professor Flitwick as their supervisor. Once everyone was sorted out, an assortment of muggle tools and supplies were laid out before the students. When asked what they were for, the professors said that if, for any reason, a person lost their wand or their wand was unusable, the ability to work with non-magical equipment would be essential. Hermione wasn't fazed by this, but Ron looked a bit worried.

"If our wands are gone, we're done for anyway, aren't we? So what's the point of learning to use all this stuff?" he asked.

"Oh, it's not that bad Ron. And there are loads of situations in which might need to build a shelter without magic," replied Hermione.

"What're the chances of having any of these things to build a shelter if we don't even have our wands?"

"Ron! Just do it, it's not that difficult!"

Grumpily, Ron picked up the materials as instructed by Professor Flitwick, and worked with the other members of his group to put them together in the right way. They worked for longer than Hermione expected, but then, few, if any, of the others had done this before. She forgave them for their sad handiwork and lack of understanding.

The students and Professors skipped right over lunch and before long, the sky started to darken as the sun set. Around this time, Professor McGonagall assembled all of the students together to demonstrate a proper conjuring charm for food. She explained that although it was typically called a conjuring charm, it was more of a transporting charm, as the food they were to "conjure" actually already existed back at the castle.

The spell was tricky, as the students had to fully concentrate on a certain spot in the kitchens of the castle, and imagine the food that was stored there. As usual, Hermione was the first to master it, and she sat with her rather pathetic dinner of bread and cheese while everyone else got increasingly frustrated and hungry. She felt bad for them, but Professor McGonagall had strictly forbidden her helping anyone, saying that they must accomplish it on their own so that they may use it later on if necessary.

Hermione wondered if the food had been planted there for this exact purpose, or if there just happened to be some extra food back at the school kitchens that the Professors had figured they could use to teach the students this charm. What would happen when the food at the castle rotted or ran out? Would they forage the forest for food of some kind, or would their training be done by then?

Her questions were soon answered by Professor McGonagall, who said, "The Headmaster made certain that there was plenty of food in the kitchens for our training session here before he left. It is only because we planted the food there earlier that this charm is accomplishable. Had we no such source, this charm would have no effect due to what I said earlier about it not really conjuring the food. There should be enough for the time we are here, so finding meals will not be one of your tasks. May I take this moment to say, however, that when you are on your own, it is always a good idea to have a significant source of non-perishable food stored somewhere, so that you may use this charm in need."

Hermione finished her meal long before most of the others had even managed to get theirs. Ron was in a bad mood due to his hunger--which was always present, but most especially in this case, when he'd had little food all day--so Hermione didn't feel compelled to start a conversation with him. She sat watching her classmates for a while and felt herself growing steadily more tired. She conjured a blanket for herself with her well-researched Aperix charm and lay down under the unstable-looking shelter her group had put together earlier in the day. She curled up in a tight ball and soon drifted off to the sounds of the forest around her.

…

Hermione opened her eyes and stood. The reliving of her past had made her feel better while it lasted, but now the good memories were over, and the sad, harsh ones came next. She remembered the sadness she'd felt that first day in the woods, the first day of the war. It had lasted far longer than she'd intended it to. She had planned on training hard enough to forget her fears and sadness, but even the intensity of her work couldn't drive it away completely.

It wasn't until the training was over, and her first battles had been fought, that she grew numb enough to forget her pain. Her numb trance had lasted to the end, and was still with her, in a way. She didn't need its help as much anymore; it had been long enough that she had gotten past their separation on her own.

Hermione didn't want to recall what happened next in her life, but when she stepped over to the broken windows of the tower, she couldn't prevent it. Various memories came back in a hurry, and she didn't waste much energy in stopping them.

…

The students time in training went by quickly, lasting only about three weeks. The Ministry's need for willing witches and wizards to fight was growing every day, and when the students had learned enough to start helping, they were sent to various places and assigned various duties.

Because Hermione was a fast-learner and more intelligent than most, she assisted the aurors in their hunts for Death Eaters and their hiding places. Battles in this war were not planned, but erupted when several aurors attacked a Death Eater hideout or when the reverse happened, and Death Eaters attacked a Ministry building or camp. Everything that happened was a surprise, and everyone soon learned to be constantly alert.

Security was heightened greatly at all major buildings and sites that in any way the Dark side might find threatening. At St. Mungo's, trained guards were everywhere, and every single person that came was checked over thoroughly. Hermione once had a job as a guard at St. Mungo's, but soon tried to find a way out of it as she watched the number of wounded people waiting for help increase every day. The healers couldn't keep up with it all, as hard as they tried. It depressed Hermione so much that she begged to get a position elsewhere.

In the beginning of Hermione's time assisting the aurors, she mainly stayed at the Ministry building, acting as a sort of secretary in that she received many reports of Death Eater sightings from different witches and wizards and sorted them. If there were several reports of Death Eaters in one area, she would tell an auror in the office and he or she might organize a group to investigate the suspected area.

It was a very tedious job, happy though Hermione was to be helping in any way. She very quickly got bored with this job as she filtered through more and more reports every day, half of which were misleading. Apparently her boredom did not go unnoticed, however, as after a few weeks had passed, Hermione was upgraded to doing a bit of field work with the fully-trained aurors.

She was now part of the next step in the reports she had spent so much time on. She was now a part of the groups that went to investigate certain areas. The idea frightened her at first, but when, after a week of doing this, she had yet to run into a Death Eater on these missions, her anxiety lessened.

Her second week at her new position was similar to her first until the end. There were several false alarms but on Thursday, for the first time, the reports they'd gotten were correct.

Hermione was called from her small desk in the early afternoon to join a group of four aurors in an investigation of a small town a bit north of London. The aurors did not speak to her when she joined them, nor did they talk to one another. Hermione had learned from her experiences with them that aurors tended to be very sullen, reserved people. This had not been true of other aurors she'd known in the past, but the war had turned most of them this way out of anxiety and lack of decent sleep.

The group went silently to the lobby of the Ministry of Magic building. When they reached the apparition point, each of the aurors stepped forward in turn and disapparated. Hermione, having learned how to disapparate during her weeks of training, followed suit and soon found herself with the others in what looked like an alleyway between two stone buildings. Though it was daytime, the alley was strangely dark and shadowy. The sky was a threatening black-grey, which didn't help with the lighting.

For the first time, a member of the group spoke. "Three reports mentioned seeing suspicious behavior by hooded men in this exact spot last night. Two others said they saw robed people running down that way," he pointed to the area behind Hermione, "and then turn left at the end. As usual, split up and look for anything that might support these claims and show them to me."

All the members of their small group nodded their understanding and headed to different places in the alley. Hermione started walking in the direction their self-appointed leader had gestured a moment ago in hopes of finding any evidence of Death Eaters having been there recently.

Hermione wasn't all that hopeful; none of the other reports she had been sent to investigate had turned up anything useful, so why should this one? She looked around half-heartedly, not expecting to see anything out of the ordinary….

But then, Hermione found herself surprised. Her eyes had passed over the bottom of a doorway to her right without really registering what she'd seen, but she paused a moment to look back at it. There, half-hidden under a closed door, was a dirt-covered, black wand.

Hermione stepped over to the door and leaned down to pick it up. She paused for a moment before touching it, having always been taught never to touch an unknown magical object without confirmation that it was safe. But the wand looked as though it had merely been forgotten, or tossed aside, and not as though it had been placed there as a trap, so Hermione quickly slid it out from under the door holding her breath.

When nothing happened, she let out a sigh of relief and examined her find more closely. She now saw that the wand was broken near the tip; the wood was splintered and a very thin strip held the two pieces together. "Priori Incantato," she muttered, wondering if the spell would work on a broken wand. To her surprise, a wisp of light-colored smoke emerged from the tip of the wand and an eerie, cold voice whispered, "Obliviate."

Hermione realized at this point that she should immediately take the wand to the leading auror, but her curiosity pushed her to try the knob on the door in front of her. It was locked, as Hermione had expected. She pointed her own wand at the key-hole and whispered, "Alohomora." She tried turning the knob again, but it remained firmly locked. With a sudden memory and a pang of sadness that she immediately pushed away, Hermione raised her and again and said hesitantly, "Puertabra."

She heard a distinct clicking noise and felt the doorknob turn in her hand. She pushed the door open and entered slowly, her wand drawn and her eyes and ears alert. The room she had discovered was even darker than the alley she had come from and she lit her wand.

Her wand light fell on the wooden floor of a small, undecorated room with only two simple wooden chairs for furniture. Aside from the chairs, the room was completely empty, or so Hermione thought until she discovered a small cauldron hidden in the shadowy corner of the room. She leaned over the cauldron to see what was inside and found nothing. Slightly disappointed, Hermione started for the door, ready to show what she had discovered to the aurors.

As her hand wrapped around the smooth metal of the doorknob once more, the sound of creaking wood reached her ears. Hermione froze, not daring to even breathe. Someone was definitely coming down a series of wooden steps that undoubtedly led to this very room. Watching the dark stairwell in horror, waiting for someone to appear, Hermione quickly thought, Nox, and the light from her wand vanished.

Engulfed in pitch blackness, Hermione didn't move a single muscle. The footsteps got closer and closer and after what seemed like eternity, a light appeared at the bottom of the steps. Hermione inched her way into the farthest corner from the stairwell and flattened herself against the wall as much as possible. She struggled mentally to find a spell, any spell, that might hide her, and she suddenly remembered the Disillusionment Charm she'd been taught during her training. Thinking strongly about the spell, she rapped herself hard on the head, and felt a cold, strange feeling wash over her.

A figure emerged at the bottom of the steps as Hermione's spell worked to make her blend with her surroundings. The person was wearing a hooded robe that shadowed his or her face so that Hermione could not see it. The figure raised its wand high above its head and turned its head, looking around for something. Hermione felt that whoever it was was looking for her.

The person stopped moving as its wand light fell upon Hermione's disillusioned form. Hermione knew that the spell hadn't made her completely invisible, that it would appear to the person that the air in the corner was bending the light in a funny way.

The figure stepped slowly towards her, wand still raised. Hermione knew there was no chance of her being undiscovered, but she silently hoped that something, anything, might distract the unknown person approaching her….

The figure stopped about two feet from Hermione. She saw the light gleaming in two eyes beneath the person's hood. Then, without warning, the person swiftly brought down the wand and hit Hermione hard on the head. "Ow!" said Hermione involuntarily. She felt a sudden wave of warmth wash over her body and realized that the stranger had lifted her Disillusionment Charm.

Hermione held her breath and waited for something to happen. Dare she raise her wand? As this person's wand was already pointed directly at her, she'd be at a slight disadvantage.

While Hermione debated with herself about what to do, the stranger chuckled softly. "Well, well," said a low voice that made Hermione realize it was a man under the hood, "you aurors are getting younger by the day. Still, I can't deny that I'm impressed you found this place." He looked around the room, as if expecting others to appear out of midair. "Alone, are you? Even more impressive." He paused a minute, seemingly examining Hermione, though she could not tell due to his face being in shadow. "Well, all the easier for me that you are. Stupefy."

Hermione felt consciousness leave her immediately.