Chapter 4: Burning
America woke up with a massive headache. Standing in front of him, was none other than Voldemort. Next to the Dark Lord, was the micronation, who had kidnapped him some time ago, he didn't know how long it had been. He was bound, tied up in a rope. He could feel the grass on his face. "So this is America?" He heard the voice of the Dark Lord said.
"Yes, though it is rather pathetic. Let's do it already." America recognised this voice as the white-haired micronation's voice. Voldemort had no reaction, but his aura practically screamed: "Do it." America shivered, no one should be as cruel as this man. Suddenly, he was picked up. "Like in Salem right?" The micronation asked.
"Of course. Make sure to collect the ashes. Valuable for potions, correct?" Voldemort asked, following the micronation. They stepped into the woods, where America was tied to the wooden pole. Wood was stacked around the pole, and America knew what was to happen. He was going to get burned, possibly to death. He looked to the micronation. She had no emotion on her face. It seemed as if it was drained out of her.
Voldemort stepped up to the stack of wood, a stick in hand. Was he going to add it to the pile? "Incendio!" The orange light had started, warming the slightly cold air of the September night. America could already feel the heat. He struggled to comprehend why this was happening. Was it because he was a superpower? Or was it what she had said the first time?
He shivered despite all the fire surrounding him. The orange flames seemed to lick eagerly at his shoes. He was glad his precious bomber jacket was safe in the premises of his closet somewhere in his home at least. Then, like that, America caught ablaze.
A short time later, Jamtland handed Voldemort the glass vial containing a portion of the transparent elixir. "Don't drink this yet. I'm still working out the side effects. If you become that too early, you probably won't be very stable, and easy to eliminate."
Picking up the vase of ashes, Jamtland noted that the glasses of America didn't burn like the rest of his things. She dropped the glasses in with the ashes. "I'll resume my experimentation now." With that being said, she disapparated from the woods.
—
England, who had received notice that Umbridge was to inspect his class on Monday, for the first period of the morning, expected to see her in his classroom. The Gryffindor fifth years did not. They were equally shocked to see Umbridge sitting in the corner of the classroom a clipboard in hand.
"Good morning class, today, Professor Umbridge, as you know her from your Defense Against the Dark Arts class, will be merely inspecting us today. Feel free to ignore Professor Umbridge, as we are going to continue class as usual, with or without inspection." The fifth years sat down at their seats and pulled out their books as usual.
"I assume you read through the chapter as previously assigned and have your summaries prepared for today. Please stack them in a pile here at the end of class." England gestured to a spot at his desk. "Now, on with the lesson."
"As you know from the chapter, and the previous class, Romans had a hard time with their magic, as they didn't understand it as well as the Chinese. When the Silk Road, a trade route that merchants and traders travelled on for trading. At the time, some Chinese had learned how to use their magic with a staff at hand, and it was becoming more popular because they could defend themselves like a muggle without raising suspicion." Umbridge had started writing notes in the corner, her quill moved across the paper speedily.
"When an unknown Chinese merchant, whom I will refer to as 'Wang', travelled the Silk Road to Rome, the knowledge of using staffs had spread, because this merchant, was also a wizard. 'Wang proceeded to teach the Romans, who couldn't really control the magic as well with their own hands," England paused.
"Please turn to page One-hundred-twenty-five and read the next chapter, now that you have some background knowledge."
Umbridge seemed to have finished her notes, as the quill was unmoving. She had moved around the room quite a bit already, and now she approached England. "I just have some questions for you, Professor Kirkland, I hope you don't mind. First, how long have you been teaching History of Magic here at Hogwarts?"
"This is my second year teaching here at Hogwarts."
"Quite a short period…" Umbridge wrote something down on her clipboard. "Professor Dumbledore appointed you, correct?"
"Of course." Another note was added.
"With such excellent knowledge, you must have gone to Hogwarts, correct?"
"Yes, I did." England kept calm during this interrogation with a straight face. Though it was true that he had gone to Hogwarts, that was many centuries ago, when the founders first started this school.
"And which house were you sorted into?"
"Slytherin."
At this point, Umbridge had finished her notes and her interrogation. "Thank you very much." She then proceeded to sit down in the corner again.
—
Hermione went back to the magical creatures section of the library to find the old dusty book again. However, to her surprise, the old book was gone, leaving an empty spot where it used to reside. She grumbled and tried looking in the "N" section of the books.
"Nations… Oh, what am I doing, it would be better to look for them in the myths section…" She moved over to the myths section, and soon, she found another book, similar to the magical creatures book. It was titled; Nations and some proof of their existence. Hermione took this book as a sign of luck, as the previous book had disappeared, but this book would do.
After checking it out (where she surprised Madam Prince), Hermione hurried to read it in the Gryffindor common room. As she read the introduction, she discovered that it was originally written by a French author, and translated years later into the book she held in her hands.
The existence of nations has been debated over for many centuries, but there's one thing for sure. There is some undeniable proof out there that proves their existence, and this book here will be where may proofs are listed.
Hermione smiled. She loved it when books gave her a good debate.
—
England paced across the room. His condition had started to worsen, and England knew why. Death Eaters. He wasn't sure about his brothers' conditions, but he could say that coughing spasms with faint blood were definitely a worsening condition. Normally, things like a murder of nine or ten didn't bother him very much, but since it has connections to magic, it made his symptoms worse. Magical attacks tended to be more sensitive than normal "muggle" attacks.
Another problem. America had been missing for months, and no one had realized. Turns out, his government gives him a break after the meeting in June, so no one knew he was missing until the September meeting. England knew he would have to use one of the older spells he had created to try and track down the nation. Though there was no guarantee that England could go, he could probably send another nation.
What was his name again…? Canda..? No, wait, Canadia…? No, no, Canada. Yes, Canada could go, England was positive the Canadian brother could do it.
England looked through the spell books on his bookshelves. "Where is it…?" He pulled out the one he had been looking for. He smiled and flipped through the pages. Finally, in the middle of the book, was the spell he had been looking for. England charmed the chalk to draw the required symbol one the floor. Once that was finished, England looked through his book once again.
He salvaged an image of America from a box somewhere under his bed. This box also contained a certain family picture that the four of them (England, France, Canada, and America) had managed to take together. Setting the image at the centre of the circle, England snorted once he realized how much it looked like something that would be at a funeral. England proceeded with the spell.
One heck of a spell later, England had a faint idea of where America could be. Somewhere in the woods of either a neighbouring nation or the British Isles was what England could narrow it down to. England, who at this point, forgot about Canada, jotted down a note addressed to France before sending it with an owl.
—
If you are unfamiliar with the being that is a nation, nations are beings that look like a normal human, and supposedly, they have all the traits of a human except for two things. One, they are essentially immortal, you could do anything to them, but they won't die. Two, they only die when their nation falls. A nation could be a man or a woman, and they can die from anything a human can die from for a short amount of time. To them, it is like passing out. This was all from theory and evidence of these beings throughout history.
Hermione paused. The book never mentioned if nations could perform magic. She brushed it off and continued reading the book.
Throughout history, the most prominent pieces of evidence hail from China and Europe. There have been many accounts of a Chinese man appearing next to the emperor or empress without so much as hesitation or caution between the guards or the emperor or empress. In Europe, there have been many accounts of a German with white hair and red eyes throughout history. Accounts include this German participating in the American Revolution all the way to the days when the Holy Roman Empire was around.
Hermione turned the page. The next page was filled with pictures. One of them contained an image of a wall (underneath the caption read; The fall of the Berlin Wall), and in black in white, two people, who Hermione assumed to be brothers hugged after being reunited. The photo next to it appeared to be an image of one of the brothers, still as young as ever, in a colour photo. The brother matched the description of the German mentioned the page before.
"It couldn't be!"