That Night
During their planning, the three had already decided to invite the twins on the hunt.
The boys were wary but Hermione assured them it was the right decision.
The two thought it was because there was no way of leaving without waking the twins up anyway. But Hermione had a different idea.
She had a sneaking suspicion that he 'Life Force of North America' was a lot closer than most would have thought. And she planned on testing it tonight.
Plus even if she was wrong, considering the twos' almost Militaristic fighting skills, they would come in handy anyways.
So, ever so quietly, the boys woke up and walked over to the twins beds.
Not at all to their surprise, the nations had already sprung up.
"We're going into the trap door tonight." Said Harry. "Come on, we can't keep Hermione waiting".
What did surprise them was the others reactions.
"No thank you, we'll stay here. Have fun" Mathew said, eyes darting around the room nervously.
"Yeah me too" his brother agreed.
'What is wrong with them? Alfred never misses a chance to be the hero?' Ron thought.
Now wanting them to come along, he edged them on.
"Please, we need you. Your strangely army-like precision could really come in handy,"
The twins looked to each other.
They really didn't want to go.
They knew that if they got too close to the stone, it would glow and everyone would know their secret.
But knowing that if they didn't they would look even more suspicious than they do already; they reluctantly hopped out of bed.
What are the odds they would actually succeed anyways?
They all met by the same overstuffed couch and began the walk.
Hermione was keeping very close tabs on the two.
She had a feeling they knew a lot more than they let on.
Just as they were about to walk out the door they were stopped.
"You shouldn't be out here" Neville accused. "You're sneaking out again aren't you?"
"Neville dude, this is really not the time" Alfred tried to say but was cut off by Harry.
"Now Neville listen, we were…"
"No!" he yelled.
"I know Mathew could sneak his way out of any situation and Alfred could just punch down a door to get away but what about you three. I won't let you"
"You'll just get Gryffindor into trouble again, and we can't really afford it with all the points Snape has taken from Alfred for disrupting his class".
Alfred just shrugged. "Not my fault he can't take a joke".
"You put a frog in soup" Mathew sighed.
"Like I said, can't take a joke."
Neville continued on ignoring the two.
"I'll... fight... you." he stuttered out. But then straitened his voice and said much more proudly "I'll fight you!"
"Neville I'm really, really sorry about this" Hermione apologized.
She took out her want and chanted "Petrificus totalus", and Neville froze and fell to the ground.
Mathew stopped his bickering and looked at the ground.
"You're a little scary sometimes". Canada commented.
"You know that right. Pretty, brilliant and overall amazing; but scary"
Hermione smiled. Mathew was just too nice.
"Let's go" America said, stepping over the body without a care.
A little put off by Alfred's seemingly numbness to the dead-like body, but too excited to care, they followed him out.
The twins connected their rings and the trio all got under Harry's cloak to turn invisible.
They walked down the corridor, (Hermione getting her foot stepped on repeatedly by a certain red head), and came to the door were the three headed dog was.
They cautiously opened it and stepped inside.
"Wait a minute?" Ron said shedding off the cloak, "It's snoring. Snape already has been here".
As soon as Ron had said the words the dog was now up and growling.
The three staggered to the back of the room, ready to burst out the door when the dog suddenly stopped.
He looked at Alfred and Mathew and cocked its head to the side.
A few seconds later it let out a happy squeal.
"Maska, Kanata. I haven't seen you two in years! What's going on? Did I miss much?" the dog barked.
"Oh nothing much, just same old same old, still world superpower and such. So how are the pups? My spirit guide Manabohozo, you know the rabbit, and Kanata's bear Nanuq really missed you." Alfred barked back. "Oh, and we go by Alfred and Mathew now".
"Oh okay" the dog continued. "Yeah the pups are good, Melony got the gig for the presidents guardian."
"Wow that's great." smiled Canada. "She deserved it".
"Yeah, i am so proud" he smiled. "But anyways, now I'm the spirit guard for the Stone. By the way why are you here? And who are they?"
"Oh" America chuckled. "How rude of me."
He turned around and faced the trio who were looking at him incredulously.
"Harry, Hermione, Ron, this is Cheveyo spirit guard of the Stone" he said in English.
"And Cheveyo" Mathew said in bark, "These are our friends Harry, Ron and Hermione. They are trying to stop someone evil from stealing the stone."
"Oh then don't let me stop you, good luck on your quest." And the dog stepped aside and let them pass.
Alfred and Mathew barked a thank you and led the trio down the hole.
"You speak dog?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, it's a native North American thing" Mathew answered climbing down the trap door.
Harry was about to ask a question, when the ladder gave out and dropped them onto a field of branches.
"Wow" Ron said when he hit the ground. "Lucky this plant thing was here."
The five took a moment to recuperate when Harry saw one of the vines move.
They started to wrap around them and pulling them down.
They to started to thrash and kick, feeling the sharp branches begin to tighten.
Hermione stopped kicking and took a second to recognize the plant.
"Of course!" she yelled. "Stop moving. This is Devils snare, you have to relax or it will only kill you faster."
"Kill us faster! Oh now I can relax!" screamed Ron sarcastically.
Hermione gave an annoyed look, froze still and started sinking down into the branches.
"Hermione!" her two friends yelled after her.
"Now what are we going to do?" panicked Ron.
"Just relax" Hermione yelled from the bottom.
"Hermione where are you? What do we do?" called out Harry.
"Just do what I say" she called back. "Trust me."
Harry closed his eyes and forced himself to become stiff.
As soon as he did the vines began to lower him and he was dropped onto the floor next to Hermione.
"Harry!" Ron called out to him.
"You ok" Hermione checked her friend.
"I'm fine" he answered and then he heard Ron screaming again.
"Help!" he was yelling.
"He's not relaxing is he?"
"No apparently not."
"What are we going to do?"
"I know" Hermione figured out in a flash in inspiration.
"I remember reading something in Herbology. I think it went 'Devils Snare is deadly fun, but will wither away in the sun'. Oh I've got it! Snares hate sunlight."
She took out her wand and chanted "Lumos soloarm" and a white light shot out and Ron fell to the floor.
"Ron you okay?" Harry asked.
Ron grunted out a yes in reply and stood up.
"Wait" Hermione stopped.
"Where are the twins?"
"Uh we're right here." Alfred said obviously from behind them.
"Haven't moved the whole time."
"How did you get through?" she questioned.
"Oh we politely asked the spirit of the vines to let us through and they said yes and dropped us off". Mathew answered. "She also asks our spirit guides Nanuq and Manabohozo to come for lunch sometime."
Considering they just got past two obstacles literally without a scratch, the trio was really happy they invited them… except Ron.
"If you could talk to it, why I bloody hell didn't you tell it to stop crushing us?"
"It's rude to interrupt, and she was talking about last time she…" Mathew began but was cut off by Harry, who was done with the twin's strange long stories.
"Let's just go" he said, walking down the hall and opening the door.
As soon as they walked in they were greeted by the sound of countless wings and jingling keys.
"Curious" Hermione said, looking up at the strange display. "I've never seen bugs like these."
There were hundreds of keys flying around with white wings growing on each side.
"They're not bugs" Ron deducted. "They're keys".
"And I bet one of them fits that door" Harry added.
America and Canada walked over to the door and immediately saw the two ring shaped wholes carved into it.
They knew they couldn't just put them in and risk the others seeing, so they decided to wait and hope Harry's key theory worked.
While they kept examining, Harry got on his broom and started flying.
"Which one am I trying to get" he yelled down to the ones below.
"Probably the rusted one, like the handle" America shouted back.
"The one with the broken wing" Canada added.
Suddenly all of the keys started swarming around Harry.
He tried swatting them away but it wouldn't work.
"This complicates things a bit" squeaked Ron.
Harry chased after the rusted red key, batting the other newer ones out of his eyes.
The twins watched from the ground feeling guilty at the fact they knew how to open it, but just didn't want to blow their cover.
Harry continued flying after the key going as fast as he could.
Soon he was ducking through the wall hangings and was just an arm's reach away.
Mustering all the speed he could, Harry grabbed the key and began the quick plummet down.
A soon as his hand touched the Rusted one all the other went back to their lazy circles around the centre pillar.
Hermione walked over to the door and stuck the key in and tried to turn it.
"Nothing" she grunted.
"Let me try" Ron said shoving her aside.
"Nope".
"Here" Mathew said taking the key.
"I read that some doors are enchanted so that they can't be opened if anyone is looking at them."
Nodding in agreement that it couldn't hurt, the trio turned their eyes away from the door.
America and Canada quickly slipped there rings into the hollowed holes and stuck the key in.
This time it unlocked.
The door opened and spit out the silver rings, which they promptly slipped back onto their finger.
"It's open" Mathew shouted back and the trio followed him in.
When they stepped inside they saw what looked like a large map of the earth and a score board on the opposite wall.
The twins looked at each other, now knowing that they were meant to find this place.
In front of the large map was a plaque that read.
"Whoever plays this game must know the rules.
1. You are the Allied Forces; your goal is to defeat the Axis Powers of Germany, Italy, Japan and others at any and all cost.
2. Each side will get one move, if a country of higher power meets a country of lower, the lower will be destroyed.
3. At any point a country can retreat, but if they do they must go through the door and will be dropped off where the mission started.
4. Each country will receive a set number of statues that will move at your command.
5. Remember that all is fair in love and war.
On a table besides the desk they saw the uniforms of each of the countries of the Allies.
America of course took America, and Canada took Canada's.
Harry took Russia, which was at least four sizes too big for him.
Hermione took the United Kingdom, seeing it was the only one made for a woman and Ron took the one for France, seeing as he refused to be seen in anything remotely resembling a dress and the only other one option was a Chinese kimono.
As soon as they all had the uniforms the board began to light up.
"All nations, please head to your countries and prepare for attack." A robotic voice called from the speakers installed around the room.
They all scurried to their respective geographic place and the game started.
"Listen" America told the others.
"We have been doing this simulation since we could walk. Just listen to what me and Canada say to do. I promise no one will get hurt."
Knowing full and well that the twins probably had more military experience than they will get in their entire lives, they nodded.
"Okay, in the world war two the Axis made the first move" Mathew said in a commanding voice.
So just as he expected an Axis country moved.
The German statue, (that happened to look a lot like Ludwig) moved forward into Poland.
Immediately Poland turned black, representing that it now belonged to the Axis.
"Hold your positions" America called.
"What!" Ron yelled. "We can't just let them take them over!"
"We'll win them back eventually; it's not worth risking troops to save them".
Reluctantly Ron stepped back and let Alfred take over.
Next Germany took the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway.
Now all of the counties except America were fighting in different locations around the world. Mostly focused in Europe.
That was until Germany reached France.
The statue of Germany rolled up to where Ron was standing and held him at gun point.
"What do I do? His power rating is higher than mine" Ron squeaked.
"Retreat" America yelled over to him.
"What? But then it'll send me out?"
"Look. I promised to get you all out alive, not into the next room."
Seeing he had no other options, Ron stepped off the board and into the door on the wall on the opposite wall.
"I'll go with him, make sure he's safe" Hermione called.
"No" commanded Mathew. "You're our main buffer between Germany and the other Europeans. We need you".
She reluctantly agreed and watched helplessly as France turned black.
Next Germany started to attack her.
She watched as her small island suddenly began losing its power points posted on the wall across the board.
She felt a stabbing in her heart. She could do nothing as her people were being bombed and destroyed.
'Is this what being in command is like' she thought.
"Alfred what do I do?" she called out.
"One, call me America. And two there I'll send aid."
"Send aid to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" he commanded and the board showed a large number of troops and money be sent over.
While Hermione was fighting off the one of the Germany statues, some of the other British representative statues, Canada, America and a few others were busy fighting in North Africa.
After a few moves they won and the continent turned white signaling it belonged to the Allies.
'Like chess' Harry thought, 'I've never noticed how much chess is like war'.
Soon enough though he was the one being invaded.
He watched as Italian and German troops started to attack him from the side.
All three countries numbers started to change.
He fought them off but he saw as his people number started to drop by the millions.
He saw that and heart started to race.
So was what war felt like, the enemy rushing in on either side and knowing you were one wrong move from inhalation.
He could only imagine what it would be like if he knew the numbers weren't just pixels, but actual lives.
While he was busy fighting off the Germans, Japan came forward towards America.
He came to Hawaii and stomped down.
America watched as his power and live counter plummeted and Japan backed away from the now grey-ish colored island.
Now he was allowed to fully get into the war.
While that was occurring, another Japanese statue also invaded the lands to its southeast.
Seeing how close Japan was getting to her Commonwealths of Australia and New Zealand, Hermione started to get nervous.
America now started sending Russia thousands of his troops and gradually Germany and Italy was forced out.
So the battles kept going.
A perfect model of Midway and Stalingrad and more.
America island hopped in the pacific, pushing Japan closer and closer to his mainland.
A few turns later America and Canada worked together to free Rome.
And finally they had reached D-Day.
Hermione, Alfred and Mathew all stepped forward and attacked Germany.
Finally the Nazi's had been beaten and Germany shrunk back.
After they retreated Canada, America and Hermione and the statues for China began attacking from the west.
Harry and his army began attacking from the east.
There was a sudden fight as the German statue in a last ditch effort tried to attack.
Almost as quickly as it begun, he failed and Germany and Italy were officially defeated.
Next America walked back to his land.
Hermione and Harry were looking at him oddly.
They had just won, why had he looked so upset?
Only then did they notice a little red button that wasn't on anyone else's land.
He looked down upon it like one would look upon a plague.
He took a deep breath and reached down to press it.
"Alfred, what are you doing?" asked Harry. "We already won."
"No we haven't" corrected Canada. "Until Japan is dead and done fighting, it is not over."
"But they're weak, what could they do now?"
"If we want to go, they can't just be weak, they need to surrender." said Canada, watching his brothers face contort into an odd mixture of disgust and dread.
"Goodbye my friend, but all is fair in love and war". America sighed.
And he pushed it down.
The others watched as the Japan statue suddenly exploded and two spots on the map of Japan went clear.
Spots only turns clear when an area has been attacked by a Nuclear weapon.
Japans status decreased rapidly and the area turned white, signifying their surrender.
The war was officially over, and they had won.
"Why did you do that, they were already losing. They were going to surrender!" Hermoine watched, shocked at the dramatic downing of Japans status.
It was horrifying to think that with a push of a button, an entire nation, a powerful one at that, could be brought to its knees.
"We don't know that" America said coldly. "If we I didn't, we would have had to send in troops and lost more people. You are forgetting rule number five Britain."
"All is fair in love and war" Harry whispered to himself.
Even though it was all lights and simulation, he could still feel the ache.
His country that he was supposed to protect had lost 5,756,000 people.
Though they had won, did that count as a victory.
Over five, almost six, million lives, lost.
Hermoine was facing a similar issue.
Even though her casualties were much less, her entire island was destroyed.
Schools, parks, museums. All lost in the rubble.
The two nations stopped themselves from feeling just like they always had to do.
If they didn't, they surly would have already fallen to complete insanity.
From the center of the map a box rose up and inside was a key.
"Hermione, Alfred, Mathew. You go out and make sure Ron is alright." Harry commanded taking the key and walking towards the door.
He had a new found courage placed in him.
If all those people were willing to fight and die for their cause, so could he.
"No" the boys yelled at the same time.
"Were not abandoning you."
"Hermione can help Ron and send a message to Dumbledore. We are coming with you" stated Mathew, in a no nonsense tone.
Harry nodded and they began to walk to the door.
"Wait!" Hermione called out.
"Remember, you three are great wizards, you'll be alright."
"Not as good as you" America said honestly.
"Me?" Hermione laughed sadly. "Me? Books, cleverness. There are more important things. Friendship, bravery, honor...just...just...please be careful."
They all nodded and put the key in the lock and turned.
They stepped in and shut it behind them.
They didn't see Hermoines lone tear as she walked through the other door.