A Tragic Second Year

When one individual panics in the spring of 1992, he triggers a cascade of changes to the events of Harry Potter's second year. The results are tragic for Magical Britain.

DISCLAIMER! This Harry Potter story was written for fun. All rights belong to the wonderful lady (JK Rowling) who gave the world Harry Potter to read and enjoy.

~~~*** Author's Note: Children are dying in the Middle East. The world has moments of great pain. I think that's where the darkness in this story originated.

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Sirius and Remus

In a nice home located in Wimbledon, Sirius Black sat quietly in a comfortable chair while one of his best friends sat nearby and tried to talk about good memories from the past. Kreacher kept popping into the room with a calming potion for the friend – the man's tears streamed down his face as he spoke about their years at Hogwarts.

The house elf was following his instincts to protect Lord Black from dangerous persons and a distraguth werewolf certainly was a dangerous individual. But Remus Lupin refused to take the potion, claiming he was in control of his emotions.

Finally, Sirius spoke up and said, "Moony, take the potion. You're crying so much; you'll pass out from dehydration in the next five minutes."

The man recovering from the years of exposure to the dementors and terrible conditions in Azkaban added, "You've gotten old! We've both gotten old too soon."

Remus accepted the potion from the house elf and downed it quickly. His tears dried up and Kreacher served tea. Sirius complained, "Andy won't let me have any alcohol…says I have to recover before she'll let get drunk."

"When you get well, I'll let you drink me under the table," Remus replied.

"How's Harry?" Sirius asked. "Andy hasn't let him come visit yet."

Shaking his head, Remus said, "I've not met him yet. Your cousins won't tell me where he is to protect him and the family protecting him."

Nodding his head sadly, Sirius said, "I'm going to get well so I can see him and tell him about Prongs and Lily. He must be told how his parents loved him more than anything."

"When you get well, we'll do whatever you want," Moony promised.

The door of the lounge opened, and Andromeda Tonks entered the room with her sister, Narcissa Malfoy.

Sirius Black rose from his chair and crossed the room to take his cousin in his arms and hold her. "Cissy, I was very sorry to hear that your boy was killed. I know…no, I don't know how you felt,"

"Thank you, Siri. My son was the light in my life and that is gone now. But you lost loved ones that terrible night," Narcissa reminded him. "If we can reunite the family, maybe we can move forward."

"Andy's going to agree with you," Sirius said as he returned to his chair, leading Narcissa to take the chair that Remus left when the witches entered the room. Andromeda gently pushed Sirius back into the chair and checked his forehead for fever with the back of her hand.

"You always were a mother hen, Andy," Sirius fussed as Kreacher provided more teacups, biscuits, and tiny sandwiches for the four people who sat in the lounge and discussed medical treatments.

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Molly Weasley

After the remembrance ceremony for Ronald and Ginevra, Arthur hoped his wife would begin to recover. However, Molly remained quiet and lost in her memories. Percy, Fred, and George proved they could be industrious with the household chores of cleaning and cooking. But Molly had to step in many afternoons to rescue a roast chicken or stew from burning. She never fussed at her sons but continually thanked them and told them she loved them.

And the family continued to set out plates for Ron and Ginny with each meal. The boys learned to cut back on the amount of food they prepared without Ron there to eat for three persons. And Molly occasionally went to the bedrooms of her two youngest children to dust and then sit on their beds for a time.

After dinner one night, Molly asked the boys about pictures of their brother and sister from school.

"Wasn't there a boy in Ginny's class who liked to take pictures of the other children?"

"Yes," Percy replied. "His name is Colin Creevey, and he took photographs all the time."

"They won't be magical pictures," Fred said. "I don't think Colin had a camera with magical film yet."

Smiling for the first time since that terrible day, Molly asked, "Can you write him and ask about some photos of Ron and Ginny, please?"

"We will," Percy agreed. He hurried up the stairs to his room to write two letters – first to Colin about photos and a second letter to Penny Clearwater to ask about how to find Colin's home address so he could visit to collect any photos.

Penny was half-blood and she lived in the muggle world with her parents, her father, a mysterious man in the ministry and her mother who worked with something in the muggle government.

In the middle of writing the second letter, Percy realized, "If I'm lucky, Penny will accept my proposal in a couple years. And she'll want to live in the muggle world – she talks about how great it is. Magical Britain is not all that great anymore."

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Pomona Sprout

The healers at Saint Mungo's promised Pomona that she would regain full mobility in her arms, shoulders, and legs once the regime of potions and physical therapy were complete. She believed them.

The Hufflepuff network was already in action arranging for the beloved head of house had safe and secure lodging (with the McMillian family) when the hospital released her. They would welcome her for an extended convalesce.

But no one wanted to speak about Hogwarts. No one mentioned the headmaster. The bodies of the students had been released to their families after two days of 'study' by the Unspeakables and Aurors. The families would have time to heal.

Everyone admired the dead staff members, but Pomona was determined that their sacrifices would be remembered –Snape, McGonagall, Trelawny, and Hagrid – each hero would be awarded the Order of Merlin First Class or the Hufflepuffs would rise in revolt!

'The spear will become a permanent trophy in the Great Hall and for the next thousand years, young witches and wizards will be told the story how every house in Hogwarts suffered that day, but the students and professors worked together – Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, Slytherins, and Hufflepuffs – united to kill the monster.'

The witch summoned a house elf to help her with moving from her bed to a chair. 'Are the house elves taking care of my greenhouses at Hogwarts? Could Cedric and Neville go check on them for me?'

The boys had visited but refused to talk about that morning. Susan and Hannah visited once for five minutes but they left to visit with Millicent Bulstrode who'd survived with extensive injuries.

Luna Lovegood appeared in the various hospital wards regularly to visit each of the injured and unpetrified students. The Granger girl struggled with her recovery from the petrification, but her muggle parents worked with her patiently and impressed even the purest healers.

Justin Finch-Fletchley had been petrified the longest and his father swore to sue everyone as his son struggled to overcome the side effects of the months spent as a statue in the infirmary. And the Creevey boy was only recovering after Harry Potter provided a new muggle camera with several magical lenses and film.

Lady Longbottom and Filius Flitwick united their efforts to get information from the wizards of North Africa on dealing with the long-term effects of the petrification by the reflected basilisk gaze. They'd hired a healer from the magical hospital underneath Marrakesh to come to London to consult fully and help the muggleborn and half-blood students.

Penelope Clearwater and Percival Weasley already spoke of writing a paper on the treatments for the long-term effects as a project for their fifth year.

'Their fifth year…' Pomona thought sadly. 'How can we ever walk back inside Hogwarts…eat in the Great Hall?'

The witch decided that if Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape could cooperate to defend the students, and if Sybill Trelawny could overcome her fears to fight the monster, there was nothing that Pomona Sprout couldn't accomplish.

'I have to find a way to get the children back in school – some school – but not the castle. Not now.'

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