Chapter 2

Hospital Wing

Days had passed since that encounter in Dumbledore's office, and Harry hadn't moved. He was sitting by Hermione Granger's bed in the Hospital Wing. His other friends had been discharged earlier, but Hermione hadn't even woken up yet. Neville and Luna were currently sitting with him. They knew he didn't want to talk, but they sat with him anyway. Sirius had been cleared and would be arriving shortly from the Ministry, where he had gone to try and obtain custody of Harry. Dumbledore was fighting him on it, but they still felt confident that the Ministry would grant Sirius Custody. They had, after all, already given him several million galleons in compensation for his false imprisonment, and were very eager to stay on his good side.

But for right now, Harry was sitting, grasping Hermione's hand and silently begging her to wake up. Harry had realized his feelings for Hermione at the end of third year, when she had helped him free Sirius and Buckbeak the Hippogriff. Those feelings had only been strengthened over the last two years, but he knew that Ron fancied her, and so he didn't say anything. Living with the Dursleys had instilled a deep sense of self loathing in Harry, and so he never thought he was worthy of love or affection.

But that didn't stop him from keeping up his beside vigil at the love of his life's side.

Secret Umbrella Lab, Raccoon City

William Birkin was nervous. There was a leak in the lab, and a particularly volatile sample of the T-Virus had gone missing. The suits from the executive board of Umbrella were demanding more testing of the G-Virus. Dr. Birkin was worried that they would send someone to retrieve it soon.

In addition to his trouble with the executives, the infected subjects were getting increasingly harder to control. They each managed to break out of their restraints, though Dr. Birkin noted that they were still unable to work doors or stairs.

He certainly hoped that sample turned up soon.

Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts

Ron Weasley was angry. Right now, Harry was in the Hospital Wing holding Hermione's hand. Again. Ron's eyes narrowed in anger as he thought about how Harry hadn't left Hermione's side in days. Ron knew that Harry was aware that he fancied Hermione, but in reality it went much deeper than that. It was obsession. You might not think it, but Ron held the pureblood ideals, to a degree. He believed that purebloods were better than muggleborns, and that the only place for Hermione, as a muggleborn female, was on her knees in front of him. He knew that Harry had deep feelings for Hermione, and he suspected that Hermione might return those feelings, but he'd be damned, he thought to himself, if Potter would get the girl who was his. And so he began to plan.

Ginny Weasley was upset. Harry, her Harry, the boy she was supposed to marry, hadn't even noticed her. After the Ministry of Magic fiasco, he was supposed to see how capable she was. He was supposed to be sitting at her bedside, holding her hand, begging her to wake up. That was why she had gone to the Ministry, after all. Sure, she liked Sirius well enough, but not enough to risk her life against Death Eaters for him. Instead, he was at Granger's bedside. Granger belonged to her brother, and Harry belonged to her. When she was Mrs. Potter, she would gain access to the Potter vaults, which were some of the oldest vaults in history. She would have access to a fortune that made the Malfoy fortune look like pocket change. She wouldn't let Granger take that away from her. And so she began to plan.

Hospital Bed, Hogwarts

Hermione Granger was struggling against the darkness. It was so heavy, but she knew she needed to wake up. She had to get back to Harry. She needed Harry, and Harry needed her, she could feel it. She could hear him, faintly, calling her, begging her to wake up. But the darkness was so heavy. Up ahead there was light, but it was still so far away. And so she fought harder.

Hospital Wing, Hogwarts

Harry Potter was dreaming. He was in the Ministry of Magic Department of Mysteries, and spells were flying everywhere. He stood, unable to move as sickly looking beams of light hit his friends, cutting them down one by one, leaving them little with bruised, ripped and shredded flesh. He heard the mad, cackling laugh of Bellatrix Lestrange as she taunted him in her mock-baby voice.

"Aww, wittle baby potter is worried for his fwends? Come on wittle baby, fight for them if you can!" she screamed as she shot a spell at Sirius, causing him to let out a yell as he fell to the ground. Finally Harry could move again, but he hadn't gotten very far before he saw the translucent figures of his fallen friends floating before him. Each wore an expression of betrayed rage as they looked at him, and pointed accusing fingers at his chest.

"Do you see what you've done now, Potter? We're dead, because we followed you. You did this to us. We followed you, we trusted you, and you got us killed. Are you happy now, Potter? You killed us." No longer was it just his friends from the Ministry surrounding him, but there was Cedric Diggory, Sirius, and his parents, all chanting the accusation over and over again.

"You killed us. It's your fault. You killed us."

And so he began to cry.

Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts

Albus Dumbledore was worried. Sirius had had his name cleared by the Ministry of Magic, and was there attempting to obtain custody of young Harry. Harry, in his eyes, needed to remain at his Aunt's and Uncle's house. He would often use the excuse of blood protection that was awarded him due to Lily's sacrifice, and there was indeed such protection there, but it was weak. Blood wards needed familial love and acceptance to flourish, and Harry received neither at his relative's home. No, the real reason Albus needed Harry to stay there was one that would have many screaming at him for being a callous old man. He knew that Harry's relatives would starve him of love and affection, but this would make him moldable. He would be willing to fight for the Wizarding world, the only world to accept him, to show him love. He would be easy to steer to Dumbledore's own ideals. He did care for the boy, but this was for the greater good of the Wizarding World, after all. But now Sirius wanted to take him to live in his home, and Sirius no longer trusted Dumbledore as completely as he had once. If Sirius managed to get custody of young Harry, then Harry would learn that his parent's will said he was never to go to the Dursely's. He would learn that there was, in fact, a list of a good seven other families who were to assume guardianship in case Sirius was unable to. This would cause Harry to lose all trust in Dumbledore. He couldn't allow this. And so he began to plot.

Secret Umbrella Lab, Raccoon City, New Jersey

Birkin was in deep shit. Very deep shit indeed. One of the infected subjects had escaped the lower levels of the lab and had infected a large portion of the other employees before managing to escape the facility entirely. No one could figure out where it was, but a rash of disappearances had begun to crop up in the Raccoon City Forest. Hikers, children and animals were disappearing without a trace. But that wasn't the worst of it. No, the worst was in this morning's edition of the Raccoon City Sun. A pair of young girls, age 5 and 7, had gone missing two days ago and were found mangled in a park near downtown Raccoon. Birkin had seen the corpses, and they bore evidence of being mangled by an infected subject. Birkin was nearly pissing himself with fear. The top boys at Umbrella were not going to be happy.

At least Albert Wesker had managed to infiltrate the Examiners Office and steal the bodies. Further testing by the M.E. would not work in their favor. Rumor had it that the RPD was sending in their S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics And Rescue Squad) to the forest to investigate. If they go to the mansion, or found any evidence of the infected in the forest, then everything was going to come apart very quickly, and very messily. Hopefully Wesker would be able to take care of them if it came to that. And so he began to worry.

Raccoon City S.T.A.R.S. Office, RPD Building

Chris Redfield was worried. He had heard from a friend of his, Billy Rabbitson, a few days before, begging Chris to meet with him. Billy had never shown up, but he said he had to talk to Chris about something work related. Billy worked for Umbrella. The Medical Examiner was at a loss to describe how the marks on those young girls got there, but she said they looked like they were human. Unfortunately, that was as far as she got before the bodies had been stolen. Now, Chris was not a stupid man by any means, and he was starting to suspect Umbrella involvement. But how could Umbrella cause such damage to those girls? Chris was determined to find out.

He looked up at the door to the office opened in two more S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Squad members came in, Barry Burton and Jill Valentine. He had had the foresight to share his suspicions, along with Billy's call, with them. He was worried at first, as he thought they would call him crazy, but luckily they agreed with him, and also thought they needed to find out what was going on. They sat down with him, knowing there was no need to speak. The BRAVO team's helicopter had gone down not long ago, and they were waiting for their team leader to come in and brief them on coordinates. Chris couldn't help feeling like his night was going to change the way his life would go for the foreseeable future. Looking at Barry and Jill, he could see they felt the same.

S.T.A.R.S. Squadron Leader for Raccoon City Albert Wesker walked in the room with the rest of Team Alpha to being the debriefing.

Raccoon City Forest

Rebecca Chambers was running. She was running as fast as her legs could carry her. Someone-no, something was chasing her. Rebecca was only 19, the youngest member to ever be tapped for the S.T.A.R.S. squad, and it was her first mission. Her brain was struggling to associate something logical with the creatures that had just wiped out most of Bravo Team.

The 'copter had just gone down and they were waiting for reinforcement from Team Alpha when the sounds first reached them. They heard the slow shuffle of something being dragged over leaves and the hesitant steps of someone to gravely injured to move quickly. At first they thought that it might have been some of the missing hikers. But then they heard the moans. They were the moans of something out of a horror film that no one really watched at the drive-in. The moans of something faced with unending hunger. As the first creature shuffled into view, Rebecca had known what it was. The moans of the damned.

Zombies. That was the word her brain kept coming up with, no matter how illogical it was. Zombies don't exist, they were scientifically impossible, but there they were. They did exist, because she was running from them right now. They existed because she saw then wipe out her whole team and turn them into monsters. She hadn't lived in Raccoon long, but she knew there was a mansion a little further ahead. If she could only get in there, she could lock herself in. Hopefully they can't use doors.

They were coming closer. Rebecca ran.

Authors Note: Ok, so this is the last chapter that's going to be mixed up with Raccoon and Hogwarts. After this each chapter will be solely devoted to one or the other. Hogwarts is next chapter. I realize that I have the years for Resident Evil a little off, but hey, it's fan fiction. :)