It's been a while, I know.
"Germany has invaded Poland and has bombed many towns. General mobilization has been ordered in Britain and France. Parliament was summoned for six o'clock this evening. Orders completing the mobilization of the navy, army, and air force were signed by the king at a meeting this afternoon of the privy council. Details will be given later in this news. The British cabinet met from half-past…."
Everyone in Granger Hall sat silent as they listened to the news given by the BBC. The family and their chief staff sitting around the radio in the parlor. The rest of the servants possibly listened to the broadcast elsewhere in the manor.
"Are the Germans going to bomb us too?" Eleanor asked. The worry was evident in her green eyes as she looked at her mother, father, and Uncle Archi.
Her question rang unanswered as Hermione had gone over the words just said.
Germany has invaded Poland and has bombed many towns.
General mobilization has been ordered in Britain and France.
Orders completing the mobilization of the navy, army, and air force were signed by the king at a meeting this afternoon of the privy council.
Everyone paying attention to the pattern of events and buildup knew that this would happen. If Britain wasn't going to be at war with Germany yesterday, they certainly were at war with them today.
"If anyone was ever surprised, they ignored the writing on the wall," Uncle Archi had pointed out at some point. "It was there in front of their faces. It was clear as day that the Germans were going to take Poland anytime now."
Hermione went upstairs to her room for a brief moment. Those who live with Muggle parents – like Tom, Judy, and Frances – may have already heard what the BBC had to say. Still, she wouldn't have been surprised if they, too, were trying to write their thoughts on this whole frightening development.
England could declare war on Germany any day now, she wrote in one letter. With all the talk of mobilizations, I wouldn't be surprised if it started before the declaration.
She didn't hear from some of them the next day. Hermione had deduced that perhaps it was because of the order for women and children to evacuate the city should the Germans drop down their bombs. Perhaps Judith was waiting at the train station with her parents among the throngs of children. Maybe the children at Wool's and other orphanages in the city had to pack their bags.
"Do we have to go?" Eleanor had asked during lunch. "Do Hermione and I have to go elsewhere in England?"
"Oh no," mother had exclaimed, hand over her heart. "We're far away from the city. The stipulation should be no effect on us."
"Doesn't mean that we can't buy blackout curtains." Uncle Archi waved his fork around. "You never know what those German rotters could be thinking. They probably would have it in them to bomb the countryside."
"Really, uncle?" mother protested. "There's no need for such thoughts. Not around the children."
Despite such protests by her mother, in the end, it was decided to put blackout curtains at night. How Hermione saw it, it was quite logical, especially if they were going to go to war.
Britain at War with Germany was the headline they were greeted with the day before they were to set for Kings' Cross. Hermione had folded said newspaper and put it in her purse on the fourth of September mere hours. She was sure that Tom had seen the headline already. She thought to share if he didn't get a chance to read the article.
It was overcast when her family had arrived at the train station. It was also packed as well. With weeping parents and children carrying suitcases marked with their names. Hermione had tried to imagine if it were her and Eleanor if they lived in the city. To have to leave for their own safety. The same for Tom. Though it was miserable to dwell on it.
After passing through the barrier to the platform, the scene wasn't as terribly gloomy as what was currently unfolding in King's Cross. Though she could feel some of the uncertainty in the people around them. The uncertainty about whether they'd see their parents again or if they'd come back to see the station still standing.
Hermione hoped that there were special, magical protections were put in place. There had to be, as this was their only way to travel to school.
"Have a safe year, dear," mother bid as she embraced her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Tom with Sir and Dame Riddle and Louisa. "Write often."
"I promise," Hermione answered. She'd write often as she would the previous year. That didn't mean that she'd hoped that the Nazis wouldn't think to bomb the countryside. She wished that the manor was still standing by the time of the Christmas holidays.
She gives Eleanor a tight hug ("I'll write to you, too," she promised. "I won't forget!") before getting on the train. Hermione makes sure that her copy of the paper is in her hands when she meets Tom at one of the compartments.
"All cinemas, theatres, and other places of entertainment are to be closed until further notice," Hermione had read aloud after meeting with Tom in the compartment. "Sports gatherings, indoor or outdoor, which involve large numbers of people congregating are prohibited. Church and all other places of public worship will not be closed."
Tom had shrugged. "It's not going to affect the two of us any," he had said. "Grandfather says that Britain is prepared for Germany to drop bombs on London. That we would have had to leave if we lived in the city."
Hermione swallowed as she recalled the throngs of children at King's Cross. As if a ball was lodged in her throat. It could have been easily her, Tom, and their siblings had their circumstances been different. Having to leave home for an unknown period of time and not knowing whether they would see their families again.
"You think that maybe they evacuated the orphanage you were in?" Hermione had asked. "It's still in the city."
"Maybe, I don't know," Tom had answered. As if I care, she thought he had wanted to say to her.
The compartment door opens, and Judy pokes in her head. "If you don't mind?" she asked. "The whole train is getting packed."
"No, Judy," Hermione answered with a nod.
As the city of London disappeared from view – the scenery turning to pastures outside their window – the conversation was mostly about the news surrounding the war. "I received a letter from Hogwarts yesterday," said Judy, opening a piece of parchment. "Due to the recent development between Muggle Britain and Muggle Germany, measures will be taken to ensure the safety of Muggle-raised students residing in London in accordance with Operation Pied Piper. Expect further word in the coming weeks regarding a change in residence for the duration of the war."
Hermione watched her as she closed the letter. The concern was evident in Judy's tone. That this was not a development, she liked at all. "Father might be going off to war soon," Judy started. "And if I leave, I don't know what mum will do."
It was clear that Judith didn't like the prospect of being separated from her parents. That her dad going off to war was a thought laid heavily on her mind. She didn't want to think about her mum being in the house alone.
"Grandfather boasts a great deal about his service in the Great War," Tom had mentioned. "'If I was young and healthy now as I was then, I'd gladly take up the second opportunity to fight the Germans,' " he said last night. Father has no interest. Said he doesn't want to lose a limb."
"Of course, the aristocracy doesn't need to worry about the drafts like the rest of us," Judy said resentfully. "You don't have to be separated from your family, either."
Hermione suppresses a wince from her friend's words. Though even if they stung, Hermione knew that she had a point. Families like the Grangers and the Riddles would not be affected the same way as families like the Cohens' and the Emersons'.
Fortunately, the arrival of Euphemia Ainsworth and Abraxas Malfoy had helped dissolve the blossoming tension in the compartment.
"Looks like Grindelwald was right after all," Euphemia had said as the train passed the northern, winding British countryside. "The Muggles got their war after all. He said so during that rally in the Lestrange Mausoleum," she continued as the headline reads Grindelwald Declares War on the Muggle Population.
"He is a Seer after all," Abraxas had pitched in, "and Seers like him are seldom wrong."
"Oh, please, not that Nostradamus type of rubbish," Hermione had protested as Hermione took Effie's copy of the Daily Prophet to take a look. Obscurus Leaves Parts of German Town Decimated read one article.
"The Nordic Seer that Grindelwald claims to be descended from wasn't on the same level of Nostradamus and will never be," Effie had said. "He was a Squib, though, as you should know."
The German Ministry of Magic is still trying to repair the damage after an Obscurus decimated four blocks in the German city of Dresden. Though cooperation with the German Muggle Government in taking care of the aftermath has been difficult thus far. A few minutes before the attack, witnesses claim they saw a young man with brown hair and a black suit standing near one of the grocers. Obscurials have the average life expectancy due to the strong, repressed magic within them. However, it's come to the attention that Obscurials could develop later in life. One such Obscurial was Aurelius Dumbledore, who was once in Grindelwald's employ until December of 1932.
Obscurials. Hermione swallowed. She had read about them in one of the books she purchased for background reading before her first year at Hogwarts. An Obscurus was a witch or wizard who had repressed their magic due to years of persecution and abuse. As a result, they form an dark parasitic magic within them that becomes so strong that they die before they reach the age where they'd control it. And they said this man surpassed the age of that short life span.
"A Obscurial in the Dumbledore family?" she thought she heard Tom ask.
"The story is that Aberforth Dumbledore's sister-in-law snatched up baby Aurelius not long after he was born," Abraxas had answered. "They said she lost her own baby not long before, so…."
"The ship carrying them sank," Euphemia continued. "Aberforth was already drinking, so it spiraled him more into alcoholism. Then years later to hear that he was swapped with another baby and not only that but that he was forced to repress his magic."
"Wait, how much more do you know of this stuff?" Tom had asked, raising his eyebrow. "You are not tied to that family, are you?"
"Well, my mother knows a Dumbledore," Effie admitted. "Only she's not from the same branch as our Head of House."
"Doesn't that sound private, though?" Judy had asked. "I mean, no one would be that willing to share that sort of information freely."
Hermione had to concede that Judy was right. Something involving infant abduction and how that child was abused to the point of repressing his magic would not be something that one should share over tea. Something that she was confident that her parents or even the Riddles would share if it was them.
"Some things that happen in a household deserve to be kept from anyone else living outside of it," would be the words of grandmum back in the day.
"I've only been there for a few months, though I can say this," Tom had pitched in, "my grandmother would be having kittens if the information of that sort went leaking around. 'No one in Mill Lane needs to know every detail of our lives,' she said at dinner."
Hermione could imagine how scandalized they must have felt about the little articles about their son's elopement. The fact that it was someone one wouldn't imagine even leaving his then-fiancée for, given the language of the pieces themselves.
Throughout the rest of the journey, they had managed to avoid the topic of war altogether. Only sticking to conversations about the Summer holidays and whether they thought they did alright on their assignments.
"I did a half a foot more than what Professor Binns required," Hermione had admitted when speaking about her History of Magic homework assignment.
"How do you manage to not fall asleep in History of Magic?" Abraxas had asked. "Professor Binns' lectures are duller than dull."
"Then I don't know how you got that 'E' if you weren't paying that much attention," Tom had grumbled.
It was by nightfall when they arrived at the school. Having put on their uniforms and departed from the compartment doors. Hermione could see that Judy ignored a particularly nasty glare from one Gladys Bancroft.
That hasn't changed from the summer holidays, I reckon, Hermione thinks mentally.
"This way, First years!" she could hear groundskeeper Reginald say far along with the platform. "First years, follow me!"
However, this year, Hermione and Tom – along with their year mates – followed the older students towards a pathway. One that was dotted with horseless carriages.
"They are not really horseless," said Abraxas as Hermione climbs in one after Tom. "They are drawn by Thestrals, though you wouldn't see them. You'd have to have a experience death to see one."
She remembered reading about them in Newt Scamander's book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. That it had to be a very close encounter with death and that it had to sink in for one to even see a Thestral. Coming to think of it, the carriages being led by Thestrals made more sense than the carriages being horseless.
Hermione and Tom did not separate until they reached the Great Hall along with the other second to seventh years. Tom shared a wistful smile with her as he followed Abraxas towards the Slytherin table. Hermione follows Judy towards the Gryffindor one.
"I'm surprised you made it here, Granger," said Felix McLaggen loftily. "That the German Muggles didn't bomb out the station."
"We haven't gotten to that point yet, McLaggen," Hermione had pointed out. "They just declared war a few days ago."
"Doesn't mean that they won't go down the road," said Charles York.
"Won't be surprised if the Muggles prove Grindelwald's point during this war," said a fourth-year a few seats away. "They did say that smoke the shape of a mushroom –"
"Hush, Edmond," hissed his companion. "No need to scare the second years. The first years will be coming too in a bit."
Ten minutes later, Professor Dumbledore leads the line of first years into the Great Hall. All of whom appearing excited, scared, or a combination of both as they are led to the stool where the ancient hat sat. Most of them pointed up to the enchanted ceiling with smiles of wonderment.
Even if the song that the Sorting Hat produced seemed no different than the year before, phrases like "beware the changing tides" and "Mend the worsening tears."
"Reckon that the Sorting Hat knows something?" asked Frances.
"How do you come to that conclusion?" Kathleen asked.
"The Sorting Hat spends its time in the Headmaster's Office when it's not sitting on first years' heads," says Philip Prewett. "Who knows what it picks up?"
Quite a big deal, Hermione thinks. A lot happens in two months, and who knows what the Headmaster knows that they don't.
I might have to pay for a subscription to the Daily Prophet, she thinks to herself.
They all sat and watched as the knot of first years dwindled as the Sorting went on. One student sat on the Sorting Hat for what was probably nearly five minutes until the Hat bellowed, "RAVENCLAW!" and they rushed to their table.
The Sorting had ended with a "Yaxley, Garrick," being Sorted into Ravenclaw before Headmaster Dippet approached the lectern for the Start-of-Term speech. The start of it was nearly the same as last year: with reminders about the dates of Quidditch tryouts and not to go into the Forbidden Forest.
"However, I feel required to address the grim reality beyond these walls," Professor Dippet noted. "First and foremost, Grindelwald's Acolytes has leveled up their aggression on the Muggle world in response to his declaration of war against them. This has become a crucial time to protect our minds as well as our wellbeing. Grindelwald's visions of the future have led many people astray to believe they can change the future when they are doing nothing but harm.
"Second, to those living within the Muggle World, one would say that the Great War from two decades has resumed itself. Though unlike before, it's accentuated with hatred towards one, not like oneself."
Hermione was certain that she could hear Gladys snort derisively at that. She swore she even heard her muttering, "As if the Jews weren't the cause of all the world's problems since the dawn of time."
"Depending on what affects us the most, all of us in this in this room are facing what could be considered equally existential threats," Headmaster Dippet had finished. "Now, on a lighter note, let's tuck into our dinner."
"That Grindelwald is a right nutter, alright," said a first-year as the food appeared. "Wanting to get that International Statute of Secrecy repealed if Muggles are as destructive as he claims."
Hermione had happened to take a glance at the Slytherin table. Where Tom seemed to be nodding to what Gaius Mulciber was telling him. No doubt they were talking about Grindelwald, and Hermione had a feeling that a good number of them probably agreed with him about Muggles. Salazar Slytherin was said to have distrusted Muggles, and historical accounts have all said that a motivator of it was the death of one of his daughters.
She didn't know if Tom would agree with that mentality, and part of her did not want to know.