RubeusHagrid34: Always a pleasure to know you're happy with this story. I'm glad to be working on this and writing the characters as well.
Chapter One: A State of War
"Bella." Abby Ridges prodded at her sleeping roommate, shaking the woman's shoulder as she slumbered deeply. "Bella, wake up!"
"No, not yet, Mama," the exhausted woman whispered, her eyes remaining firmly closed as she rolled over to her left side, despite her roommate's jabbing. "One more hour, per favore, Mama."
"Bella!" the Healer shouted forcefully, yanking the pink bed covers off of the dreaming one and pulling her shoulders upward so she sat straight. "Wake up! Now! Emergency!"
The last word of Abby's abbreviated speech got Bella to open her eyes groggily. The dark unlit room moved around her a little, as if it were revolving while she sat completely still, while her senses became aware of their surroundings again. As her ears began to regain operation, another voice became evident in them as the tone echoed across the courtyard.
"EVERYONE MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE MAIN BUILDING AUDITORIUM," Herb's magnified voice came in through the window, clear enough to sound as though he were just outside their door. "EVERYONE MAKE THEIR WAY TO THE MAIN BUILDING AUDITORIUM. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."
"What's happening?" Bella asked, her mind snapping to attention at the sound of their boss.
Abby rose from Bella's bed, going into her roommate's closet and grabbing a housecoat and pair of shoes for her. "I don't know, but we'd better get moving."
With a nod, Bella slipped into the pink sandals and fuzzy bathrobe Abby had handed her before following her roommate out the door. The corridor was crowded with their fellow co-workers, the lot talking outside of their rooms over what could possibly be so important as to drag them out of bed. Not paying attention to the many conversations occurring, Abby wove her way through the masses, slipping by shoulders and narrow spaces with her friend in tow.
"Come on, everyone," rallied Tamara Cohen shooting a spray of red sparks into the air. "You all heard the announcement. Move along."
"Today, ladies!" the familiar bark of Valerie Walters got the women jumpstarted, the lot trailing behind Bella.
The staircase was far less crowded than the hallway, those in the landings below them barely moving from them without a shout from Valerie. In a single file line, the third floor of the dormitory made their way down and out, greeted by the blast of shivering morning air and the crowds of men exiting their own dormitory buildings.
"Anyone know what's going on?" Abby asked a group of the dragon keepers as they met on the path towards the main building.
"Not the vaguest idea," one replied, giving her a sympathetic shrug as they marched onward.
"Oh, where is Simeon?" Bella whimpered, wrapping her housecoat around her petite body tightly, conserving what warmth she already had as she craned her neck to look across the crowd. "And where's Charlie for that matter?"
Abby hadn't heard her friend's words as she continued leading their dormitory towards their destination, keeping her green eyes wide open for a glimpse of shocking red hair. As her warm breath became no more than white fog in front of her, it was a relief to be indoors again as she passed the threshold between the courtyard and the main building. Not stopping to look behind her at the masses that were pouring out of the sleeping quarters, she kept moving ahead, making straight for the auditorium as was instructed.
"Bella," a voice came out from another corridor that led out into the dragon domain. "Bella!"
From a small handful of dragon keepers coming off the night watch ran a single slim male dressed from head to toe in black, contrasting the paleness of his skin. With his increasing speed towards the women, the shaggy dark bangs that usually covered his eyes from view swept back to rest close to his ears. Immediately, Bella held out her arms to the dragon keeper, letting his open grasp embrace her as they fit together like two black and pink puzzle pieces.
Peering down the corridor Simeon had come from, Abby partially expected another being to shoot out from around a corner and wrap his muscular freckled arms around her. Unease filled her from the pit of her stomach and spread outward as the corridor emptied without a single red hair in sight. The words bubbled inside, finally bursting out.
"Where's Charlie?"
With his hold on Bella loosening at the question, the dragon keeper looked towards the Healer, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I vas about to ask you that. I svitched shifts vith another person for the day. He should have been in his room."
"I haven't seen him," Abby's voice grew slightly higher, breaking her eye contact with Simeon to give the corridor a frantic scan.
"Ve shall find him, Miss Abby," Simeon assured immediately, taking one hand away from Bella in order to take Abby's palm, leading the two ladies in the direction of the auditorium where the crowd was flooding in.
"NO TIME FOR SMALL TALK EVERYONE," Herb's voice echoed through the vast space over many heads, the balding man wearing his bathrobe standing at the podium with his wand to his throat just as Simeon brought Bella and Abby in. "FIND SEATS RIGHT AWAY."
"Ve shall find him after," Simeon stated plainly, moving towards a few empty chairs, gently prodding Abby to budge as her eyes scanned over those whom had already found their places.
Locating a few seats near the back of the immense auditorium, Simeon seated himself between the two women, holding Bella's cold hands as they waited for everyone else to file in. Despite Herb's instruction to not speak, few who entered were obeying the command of their employer, far too curious to be silent about it. For Abby, she could find no words as all her energy went into her eyes looking for the one she worried for.
The slamming of the lecture hall's doors was what brought the quiet hush Herb had requested, the few workers who had not found seats squatting in the aisles. All attention was finally put towards the man in the navy bathrobe at the head of the room with a podium in front of him. Clearing his throat promptly, he removed his wand from his vocal cords, not needing the increased volume any longer.
"Thank you, all," he began, gripping the stand in front of him for support, "for getting out of bed and coming here. I realise you're all tired and wondering why I've called upon you. Trust in that I would not gather you all for small talk."
Herb stopped cold in the midst of his speech; his knuckles becoming white as they held the wooden stand even tighter. Rising from her front row seat, Nisha went to his side, quickly grabbing her husband's hand. Though she spoke nothing and had no wand to her use, Herb's hold upon the podium relaxed in an instant, words working their way onto his tongue slowly.
"It is my duty," Herb started again in his clear voice, puffing of his chest proudly and standing out straight as if to own authority, "to inform you all that the rumours circulating for the past year have been confirmed. As of recently with new information, the wizard community in the United Kingdom has informed of a state of war against the forces of...You-Know-Who."
The audience gasped in unison, and immediate whispers broke out. One of Bella's hands released itself from Simeon's tight hold, bringing it to her lips as if she were preventing herself from a scream.
"You're going as mad as Weasley, Herb," one voice called out above the rest of the scattered speaking. The talker stood, showing his seat just in front of Abby and Simeon. "He Who Must Not Be Named died nearly sixteen years ago thanks to The-Boy-Who-Lived."
Abby and Bella had only blinked once, which was enough time for the man sitting between them to rise and grab the loudmouth in the row ahead. Taking him by the collar of his white nightshirt, he was suspended a few inches off of the ground as Simeon spun to face the one who had spoken ill of both his boss and friend in one sentence.
"Do not speak of vhat you do not know," the Bulgarian dragon keeper made clear in a quiet voice before setting his fellow keeper down and sinking back into his chair and his girlfriend's hand.
"It is best to now turn this conversation over to the one who knows of this situation better than us," Herb continued, interjecting before anyone else could say or do anything. "Charlie!"
The lights in the auditorium fell into immediate dramatic darkness following Charlie's name. From the very back, where a small technical booth was, the sound of a starting overhead projector was whirring loudly. As the machine flickered, it produced a large image at the front of the amphitheatre barely legible by the light of the machine. A few words could be caught between the constant and sudden fading of the picture, but not enough to comprehend what was flashing in front of their eyes for those nanoseconds. It seemed like an eternity had passed before the image from The Daily Prophet was clear in front of them and was available to be read.
HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED RETURNS
In a brief statement on Friday night, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He Who Must Not Be Named has returned to this country and is once more active.
"It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I mean - is alive and among us again," said Fudge, looking tired and flustered as he addressed reporters.
No one had finished reading the entire piece fully before the door to the small booth opened. Emerging into the darkened auditorium and walking down the steps to the front of the room, Charlie made his way to the podium where Herb had stood only a moment ago. Beneath the image of the magnified newspaper article, he looked straight into the attentive eyes of those around him. All awaiting explanation, there seemed to be much to be said, but no way to say it correctly.
"No matter how it is said, or how many times we can try to deny it, it is the same," he finally spurted out, maintaining an emotionless face before his colleagues. "The Second War has officially begun.
"We may think that because it is occurring on the other side of the continent that we aren't involved. Maybe we don't have to worry about it because it won't come here. Many of us don't even remember the First War with He Who Must Not Be Named. But it is the responsibility of everyone to be aware of what's happening."
Charlie paused to scratch his freckled nose, looking up as a few solemn heads before him bowed sheepishly. From the front row Herb held his beloved's hand, both of their memories of the first war clear from the moisture in their eyes and the quivers that plagued their fingers.
"He Who Must Not Be Named brought terror upon the United Kingdom a long time ago," he explained the bare facts and essentials. "His ideals opposed certain principles we embody daily here: tolerance, acceptance, and love. Many innocent Muggles and wizards died at his hand or at the hands of Death Eaters, for reasons that they had no control over. He tried to eliminate those of Muggle parentage and sympathisers of them as well."
He stopped again. Staring straight downward and gripping the sides of the podium he couldn't bring himself to face the audience in fear that a pair of green eyes would be looking at him. His fist knocked on the wood of the podium gently, hoping that the old tradition did indeed rid a jinx that lingered on the tongue.
"He fortunately met his downfall by The-Boy-Who-Lived," he continued on, finding his voice in his foggy throat, "but it was not his end, as we have recently confirmed. He Who Must Not Be Named has returned and we can assume without doubt that he will continue where he left off in his quest to cleanse the race of wizards by destroying the unworthy.
"Already, he has many of his old and faithful followers, the Dementors, and potentially more at his disposal. He will attempt to rally his forces, and find as many followers as possible. His campaign does not know borders. He has found faithful wizards and witches outside of the United Kingdom and clear across Europe before. Dark magic is not a single country's problem."
The entire audience seemed to swallow their saliva at the same time, hoping that their nerves would go down with the spit with little success.
"Across the continent or not, this war is going to affect us," Charlie began to wind down, dropping his head lower slightly. "For those of us who may have grown up or have family or friends living in the United Kingdom, it may affect us more. I don't ask for anything more than what you have already given me. You have heard the facts and of the dangers and that is all I can ask for. Thank you for your time."
"I must add," Herb jumped in immediately standing from his front row seat, his hand still entwined with Nisha's quivering one, "that due to the war I am imposing a travel ban to the United Kingdom, effective immediately. Unless you have important matters to tend to, such as family emergencies or something of that nature, there will be no travelling there permitted."
The hall broke out into protesting mob instantly, many of the residents from the United Kingdom standing up and yelling out their disgust for the reserve's new rule. Filling up with angered and worried complaints it was though the room's silence had never actually existed during Charlie's speech.
"That's ridiculous!"
"My mum and dad are Muggles! I need to go to them!"
"Who is going to protect my kid brother? He's not even out of Hogwarts yet!"
"We need to be able to check on friends!"
The volume of the masses rose, equating to that of a football riot minus the ripping out of stationary chairs. Screams of protest meshed with yells to be quiet in one large melody of chaos that made Bella bury her head into Simeon's shoulder so she didn't have to watch the unrest unfold.
Neither of them had seen Abby get out of her seat and walk out the auditorium door.
A/N: I can post the first chapter! After some reviewing of the story as a whole thus far, all the needed edits come after the fourth chapter, so I figured it would be safe to post this.
I don't think there's much to say about this though in terms of notes and such. The contents of the letter in the prologue are revealed.
Yeah, other than that, the only other thing I can mention is...I hope you like it?