Rebellion
Twenty ninth September, nineteen ninety-three - Caracus District; Town of Knockturn.
It was a meeting held in one of the forgotten districts of Knockturn Town. A determined aura filled a hall of people. A stark contrast to the gloomy cloud that hung in an active courtyard of crooked brick houses.
Most of the homes houses muggleborn witches and wizards. Those maligned and cast away. Those without the talent and intelligence to make it up the ladder of success. Victims of pureblood supremacy.
They were looked down upon by half-blood criminals who populated the rest of the districts that stretched towards Knockturn Alley.
"No more," said a man with harsh lines etched in his face. He had hard brown eyes and dirty dark hair.
"No more," voices whispered back in union. Many of them were clutching their wands as they sat on the floor of a house whose ground floor partition walls were broken to create their meeting room.
Only the narrow stairway was left standing and midway on it, sat the leader of the rebellion. Wearing grey robes and his hood partly covering his face.
Silence descended. They were waiting for someone.
Some minutes later the door creaked open, letting a bit of the evening sun warm the room before it was shut.
A lady had entered. One look was all it took to know she didn't belong. The name of this lady was Emmeline Vance. She was wearing polished black heels almost hidden by her long emerald green cloak which was wrinkle green and snug. Her face was completely hidden by her hood.
"Do you have it?" asked the leader. His voice held hope.
"Nice to see you to Ted."
Ted glared. He was in no mood for games. "Well?"
"I got it."
The room exclaimed in joy and relief.
Vance pulled out a folder from within her robes and tossed it at Ted who snatched it out of the air.
He took a peek inside the folder and smiled. Vance had come through for them.
"We attack on Halloween," Ted said. His voice trembling with excitement. "Spread the word!"
Dozens of men and women left the meeting room in a hurry. A sense of approaching change pierced the gloomy district of muggleborns and squibs. People who were considered lower than trash in the eyes of their peers and government.
They had allowed their misery to fester. They worked in the most demeaning conditions and scrapped from the garage bins of those considered their superior in blood. They had accepted their life as a natural order of selection until the heard it. A muggleborn had suicide bombed Malfoy Manor as an act of revenge.
It shocked them and introduced a new emotion in their lives. A desire to fight back. A way to honour their brethren who sacrificed his life for them. The women said it was not a him but a her. They bantered only a woman would have the balls to do something like suicide bombing the home of the most powerful man in the Britain.
The men laughed in response to that. The light hearted argument had led to a few of them getting inspired to repeat the feat. The inspiration led to a desire for rights. They remembered their muggle lives as children. They remembered their desperate desire to be a part of the magical world and their horror at where they had ended up. None of them had to will to even return to the muggle world.
Their hearts ached and anger grew until a group of children were attacked. The anger transcended into righteous anger. Minister Fudge's transparent political move to make a relationship office for them only poured fuel on their burning wounds.
It took a suicide bombing and an attempt to put a halt on the rise of successful muggleborns for Minister Fudge to pretend to be sympathetic to their cause. And to make matters worse, he appointed the head of the most useless department in the ministry as the one to head it!
Their righteous anger turned into murderous rage.
The second time when inebriated young pureblood Hogwarts graduates poked fun and physically attack a group of squibs working the night shift. The workers reacted violently and were arrested while the young men were released after being held overnight.
Their rage turned towards rebellion. Secret meeting were held and single minded thoughts were spread. Potential allies were found and plans were drawn.
A rebellion was born.
And now, after all this time of unsuccessful guerrilla tactics, they had a chance to truly make a statement.
After the last man was out, Vance lowered her hood and smiled at Ted.
"I heard you've been making house calls."
Ted, stop up and walked towards Vance. He smiled tiredly and hugged her. "We have more allies that I could hope for. Turns out, a lot of noise has been buried under ministry boot. They weren't easy to find."
"I know," Vance said. There was disapproval in her voice. "What I want to talk about in particular was your unbelievable decision to go and approach a thirteen-year-old girl!" Vance finished with a shout.
Ted looked unperturbed. "From what I've heard about her from Hogwarts, she's going to make a very useful ally. She's young sure. Impressionable… yes. Harbours intense hatred towards purebloods… absolutely. In fact, if you look at the Auror report on the Malfoy explosion, you'll notice Daphne was one of the attendees of the party. It was odd that she was the only one, along with Harry Potter, who left early. Even if Snape was their minder, it was odd that they left that early."
"You're reaching Ted," she said dismissively. "You don't know what a nasty piece of work Snape is. I bet he forced them to leave."
Vance didn't know it of course but she was party correct.
Ted sighed. He knew his conclusion was far beyond farfetched. But there was something about that girl. Something that told him apart from being a pureblood who was ostracised, the girl was out for vengeance. It was her eyes. They looked like they had seen revenge up close and hadn't felt their void filled. He had seen many such eyes. She was one in an ocean. But was she vicious enough to plan such an attack? She was too mature for her age. He saw that from the moment he observed her leaving Kings Cross via the floo. He had been watching her for a while before approaching her.
"Maybe," he muttered. "Anyway. It was a risk that paid off. Her mother had needed some convincing and Daphne took care of that quite efficiently. With the Greengrass widow on our side, we can now push for muggleborn seats on the Wizengamot."
"What you plan on doing is going to make that point moot," Vance pointed out.
Ted smiled. "Our voice will be heard Emmeline. We will change this world for the better."
Vance looked at him through aging grey eyes. "I hope everything works out for the best," she said and turned to leave, her job done.
"Will you be joining us on Halloween?"
"No," Vance replied. "I can't be seen in public with your people yet." And then she left.
The sun had set and the cold seeped into her bones. She shivered and quickly apparated.
She reappeared far away, at the edge of the village of Hogsmeade and with practised steps made her way to the Three Broomsticks. She sighed in pleasure when she entered the warm pub and was welcomed by the regulars.
Vance greeted them and made her way to the bar table where Albus Dumbledore waited for her.
She took a seat next to him and greeted Rosmerta with a bright smile. "Ogdens finest for me today Rosie!" she said cheerfully.
"So? How did it go?"
"Halloween," was all Vance said.
Dumbledore sighed. He could see it closer than ever now. The red clouds of war scorching the skies of his world.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Seventh October Nineteen ninety-three - Hogwarts
The students were thrilled with their new defence against the dark arts and it showed. Hilarious spells whizzed around in corridors. Crazy hair care spells spread among the female population. Boys felt the need to impress her.
It would suffice to say, former head girl Tonks; now the defence against the dark arts teacher, was an incredible witch!
The Hufflepuffs called her the saviour of Hogwarts and no one disputed the fact apart from the sect of pureblood and certain halfblood students. They hated her. Professor Tonks was quite vocal about her pro muggleborn ideals. Her coming to Hogwarts felt like a calculated move to them and they weren't wrong.
The Ravenclaws and Slytherins were having a class with her and there was a tension in the air.
"How many of you have heard of Boggarts?" she asked. She was wearing a muggle suit instead of her robes. Her hair was black today and her features were sharp. She was projecting the image of a teacher.
Few of the Slytherins sneered at her choice of clothing.
"They're demons," squeaked Lisa Turpin. Her mother had told her the stories. Creatures of the dark, that prayed on your deepest fears.
"Not quite," Tonks laughed. "They're just these shapeless sentient creatures that are so afraid of us that they pretend to be what we fear the most."
No one laughed.
"Really!" Tonks insisted with a grin at the disbelieving faces. "Do you know the spell to defeat them? It called Riddikulus. The clues in the spell kids."
Behind her a cupboard rattled.
"You… you have a boggart in this room?!" Pansy whispered in horror.
Tonks eyes gleamed. "That's right. I'm going to show you how easy it is to defeat them."
Chairs slid backwards when Tonks moved towards the cupboard.
"I'm going to need a volunteer," she said. Her eyes darted across the room before coming upon a boy who was staring out the window with a bored expression. Her eyes narrowed. Dumbledore had told her to keep an eye on him.
"How about you Harry?"
Harry turned his head slowly and stared at the professor unblinking. Then with a shrug he got up and walked over to her side.
"Now, when I open this door, the boggart is going to take the shape of what you fear most," Tonks warned. "All you need to do is point your wand at it and say riddikulus! Can you do that?"
Harry scowled. Tonks took that as a yes.
Tonks waved her wand and the lock opened with a click. The door creaked open and a gulp of fear was heard from the rest of the class. Those from wizarding families knew how scary boggarts could be.
Tonks took a step back, curious to know what it was that Harry feared.
The door opened wide and something feel to the floor with a wet splat.
Harry froze.
It was a healthy beating heart. He could see the powerful green around it. His own green began to resonate with it causing alien feelings to flood his nerves.
Tonks grimaced at the sight of the bloody, slimy heart and the rest of the class gasped. Some covered their mouths to hold their regurgitating breakfast in.
"Say the spell Harry!" Tonks urged when she noticed the stunned look on Harry face.
"Riddikulus!" Harry whispered, snapping out of his shock. He felt the Void twist inside him, reform into the desire to turn the boggart into something amusing.
The heart popped and flew around the room like a rapidly deflating balloon before Tonks pointed her wand at it and guided it back to the cupboard and locked it in.
"See how easy that was!" she cheered. "Thank Harry. You can go back now. Now, everyone, form a line. I'm going to show you how to banish it forever."
Harry glared at the cupboard. Boggarts, he realised, could be dangerous.