133Disclaimer: The characters and situations of Harry Potter depicted in this fanfic are the legal property of J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury, Scholastic and AOL Time Warner, and have been used without permission.
No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made off of this fanfic, and it is for entertainment purposes only.
The Genocide
Chapter 1: A Pleasant Surprise
by elliekat
In war you make sacrifices, plain and simple; but Hermione never thought she would be making this many. Certainly, life is always hard, especially during times of crisis and war, but often times, the victims of war and catastrophe seem to be able to get along with their lives. After all there is always hope and the promise of tomorrow; things sometimes just change in an instant, one moment you're in one situation and the next you are in another completely different. We, as a society, have precious records from these victims, through their memoirs and diaries. It is just the human way to write down our thoughts and feelings, to grieve to something that won't rebuke us, or tell us to stop complaining. Paper is an outlet.
The want to express through writing is universal. During ancient times, people would draw on cave walls as expressions of their culture, and now, in modern times, a young girl might keep a diary as a place to keep her secrets. We are no different, even a witch may have this particular want On this sleepless night Hermione Granger writes in her diary, once again as an outlet.
My Dear Diary,
I've lost all of the people who have ever meant anything to me, well, in one way or another I suppose. My parents died in a Death Eater's attack in my seventh year, and I have not seen my best friends, Ron and Harry, in over two years. The rest of the Weasleys are either dead or in hiding so deeply, that I could never reach them. I know I have written about this so many times, diary, but this night it dwells heavily on my mind.
I miss them terribly, diary, and now, I guess that the saying, "you don't know what you have until you lose it," is true. I depended on them. I was able to vent my feelings towards them, without them ever knowing it. I miss the "what-ifs?" My life could be so different, I could be happily working at the Ministry or doing something for the good of all. Perhaps expanding SPEW? Oh, how I ramble.
When I was growing up, one of my favorite books was the diary of Anne Frank. Not just because of her bravery in times of darkness but because she wished with all of her heart and soul to be famous and she did, but sadly only after her death. You must think that that sounds disturbing. I suppose it is really but the story intrigues me to no end. Will someone, after my death, find this diary?
After my seventh year it was apparent that we were losing the war, and so in a fit of desperation, Dumbledore ordered for these underground caverns to be built. As you know, that is where I am now. The great Hermione Jane Granger is living under feet upon feet of dirt. How ironic is that?
The place was lovely to look at, especially that time of year, as the bright summer sunshine spilled through the treetops and onto the leaf covered ground. It was a forest, a wild place where no regular mortal dared to venture. There were always strange stories about this place that passed from mouth to mouth among the locals, and because of this they never set foot into that forest, instead they kept to the road. The forest did have inhabitants though, the wild animals and birds that roamed and dug burrows as homes; there were others there as well, people who lived underground, in hiding.
The locals had no knowledge of this and that was the way it was meant to be kept a secret, after all what is the purpose of going into hiding if it is not a well-kept secret. There were many secrets in the forest and one in particular was fascinating, a young woman, only in her twenties, living in a cavern. To many it must seem absurd, impossible to ever fathom, but it was true, she was living underground, away from the prying eyes of her enemies.
She rarely made an appearance, at least to the normal person, but mostly she looked to her cavern, not letting her self be seen, and so keeping her secret. On one early summer morning she did make an appearance, and she lifted the secret door to her cavern to call down a young boy sitting in a tree. That was also strange; why would a boy ever be sitting in a tree?
"Nick..." The woman, by name of Hermione Granger, hissed to the young boy sitting in a tree, trying to make as little noise as was humanly possible, you never know who might be hiding in the bushes.
Having caught the boy's attention, he took one quicker look around, jumped from the tree, and dropped through a hole in the ground. And just as quickly the hole disappeared. Underneath the soil, Hermione helped the young boy to his feet and dusted him off; which sadly had little affect.
"Nick, get a quick bite to eat and then go to bed," she whispered, giving the boy a pat on the behind.
The boy nodded his dirty head and went to where his bread and cheese was waiting. He ate the meager meal quickly and then hurried off through an opening in the dirt wall. Hermione sighed and went back to stirring the thick, goopy oatmeal she had been preparing. She took the food off of the smokeless fire, and with her wand she distributed the ten bowls across the table. Then with a wooden ladle, she scooped the oatmeal into the bowls. Placing a warming spell on the food she went to wake her other charges.
Taking a single candle, she walked quietly through the small opening, which served as a doorway, even though it was little more than a hole. There were then three other doorways leading from the one. She entered the one on the far left and woke all of the boys, except Nick, who was already fast asleep. With sleepy eyes they rose from their small beds and changed into their day clothes as Hermione walked from that room and went into the next one. In this room there were four girls. She woke them from their slumber as well. Walking back to the kitchen Hermione already found the four boys waiting at their seats. The girls filed in moments later and took their own seats. Hermione then lifted her own spoon and dipped it into the gray, sad looking oatmeal. As soon as Hermione had lifted her spoon the eight children picked up theirs and started to chatter. Over the simultaneous chatter, Hermione felt someone tug on her sleeve.
"Ms. Hermione?" said the six-year-old witch by her side.
The young witch was a cute little strawberry blond, with a dusting of freckles across her narrow nose and cheeks. But as the rest of them she was too pale, unlike regular children who frolicked and played.
"Yes, Lizzy?" Hermione replied smiling down at the young girl's face.
"Whatza lesson for today?" the girl asked, who was apparently named Lizzy.
"It's, 'what is the,' Lizzy, and today's lesson will be English," Hermione answered.
"Yes, Ms. Hermione," the girl replied.
That is the way life and it had been that way for the past four years. It had all been Albus Dumbledore's idea, he had suggested that the members of the wizarding world, the ones that had not been corrupted by the evil wizard, Voldemort, go into hiding. But the kind old wise man died just before they got to go underground, and the world was thrown into even more turmoil. Going into hiding had been necessary, as a way to buy time, so to speak. The war between the good wizards and the bad wizards had not been going well and that is why the original plan was put into motion.
At first they, (they being Hermione and her friends), did not go strait underground, instead they spent a year in hiding, by use of magic, in an old house in the British countryside. When that year ended they moved into an underground cavern. In the cavern she lived with an the Order of the Phoenix, whose purpose was to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and with her two best friends, Ron and Harry. She had known the two since she was twelve and she loved them both dearly. It was hard at first, living underground, but they soon got used to it, but again her young life would be jerked around.
Because of the war there were many orphans and without parents they were often times alone and unprotected. So a project was started called The Home Mission; the task that the project presented was clear, gather those children and give them a home, except it wasn't that easy, the good side was facing genocide, an extinction of an entire people. So they needed people to teach and to take care of these children, Hermione volunteered.
Ron and Harry were against her volunteering right from the start, but she told herself and them that it was only for one year, it wasn't that long of a time; sadly though one year turned into three. She only heard from the outside world every three months when a messenger would bring them supplies and news.
Life went by though, the days past, and each day was the same as the last.
Unknown to Hermione her life was about to change again, but this time for the better. It ended the ceaseless sameness that had plagued her. It all started at night, on a Wednesday. The time was about midnight and Hermione had just drifted off for the night when she was suddenly awakened by one of the children.
"Ms., Ms.!" Hermione was jerked awake by one of the boy's frantic whispering and shaking.
"Bryant what's the matter?" Hermione asked, eyes wide with fright as she shrugged off the heavy covers of the bed and sat up.
The boy gasped for air and continued, "someone's coming Ms. Hermione!"
Hermione gasped in terror.
"Bryant, gather everyone, there is a box in your room, move it aside, and crawl through the hole. Do not come out until I tell you to. Is that clear?"
"Yes," the boy whispered, tears in his eyes.
"Go!"
Hermione grabbed her wand and ran from the storage room; she looked around frantically expecting a Death Eater to suddenly jump out of the shadows and attack her. She then entered the main room, knelt behind the table, and waited. The first sign that someone was, in fact, outside was when a bit of dirt fell from between the wooden beams of the ceiling. Hermione gasped as the clog of dirt fell from the ceiling with a great thump. She stayed where she was, her wand ready to curse the first person to climb down the ladder. Then, suddenly, the spot just below the ladder flooded with moonlight.
Hermione tightened her hold on the wand in her hand and watched as feet appeared from the opening. She waited a few moments until most of the Death Eater's body was showing and then stood to her feet.
"Stupefy!" Hermione yelled, aiming the curse at the intruder.
The curse hit him square in the back and the man fell from the ladder and hit the floor with a load thud. Hermione darted forward and turned the cloaked man over. Her eyes widened in shock and amazement.
"Bill!"
After getting over her shock, Hermione revived the oldest Weasley. Judging by the wounds on his face, Hermione guessed that he had faced many obstacles before he had reached her cavern.
"Hermione, I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you!" Bill stated, after Hermione had revived him.
She helped him to the table (he had a bad limp and he looked exhausted) and pulled out a chair so that he could take a seat.
"Next time, make yourself known before you climb down the ladder," Hermione advised irritably. "What happened to you anyways?" Hermione questioned, pointing at the cuts and the bruises on his face.
"Oh, that, I ran into a giant on the way here," Bill explained flatly.
"A GIANT! I didn't know that there was any around this area," Hermione exclaimed in alarm, as she walked to the cupboard and took out a blue potion.
"Oh, he was just passing through I'm sure, no need to worry."
Hermione eyed him for a moment before she grabbed a clean rag and sat down in a chair next to him. She pored a bit of the potion on the rag and started to clean Bill's cuts. He winced from the stinging.
"What are you doing here? I'm not expecting a visit for another month or so," Hermione asked.
"There's been a change of plans Hermione," Bill answered.
"What change in plans? Is something wrong?" Hermione blurted out, straitening to look at him fully.
"Oh, nothing like that. The direction of the War is starting to change Hermione; it's been hard work but we are finally starting to get a firm grip on the situation. There is a brand new cavern not far from here, that's where we will be moving you and the children you take care of."
Hermione looked at Bill in shock once again.
"We will be leaving here?" Hermione asked, awe in her voice.
"Yes, as soon as you're ready to go; all of the little orphanages that still exist around this area will be going there as well," Bill confirmed.
"How largre is the cavern?" Hermione asked, wondering how it could possible hold so many children.
"Well, it's not actually done yet, but when it is we think it will be just under 50,000 square feet."
Hermione's jaw nearly fell to the dirt floor, "50,000!"
"It's the biggest one yet; the second biggest, if I remember correctly, is about 25,500 square feet," Bill replied.
"What else is going to, you know, go on there?"
"The children will be taught the basics; all the magic that we can teach them and the normal reading, writing, and arithmetic. It will also be the diplomatic headquarters."
"Diplomatic headquarters?" Hermione echoed.
"Yeah that is what I have been doing for the past two years. I've been over in South America, mostly in Brazil, but also in Argentina and Chile, trying to get their support and help," Bill said, suddenly reaching down into his muggle backpack and withdrawing a piece of parchment.
"I almost forgot to give you this; it's an official notice asking you to report to c-34," Bill said, handing the folded parchment to her.
Hermione opened it hurriedly.
Dear Ms. Hermione Jane Granger,
We request that you report to cavern 34 no later than the 29th of June. This invitation also extends to your young charges as well.
Yours Sincerely,
Taryn Hendricks, Head of c-22, EUAG, and THM.
Daphne Greengrass, co-head of THM
James Brown, head of c-6
Ronald Weasley, head of c-34
"Ron is the head of Cavern 34?" Hermione remarked, stopping at her best friend's name
"Yeah, how he managed that I don't know."
Realizing how tired Bill must really have been to come down the ladder with out making it known who he was, she decided that she really ought to make him something to eat.
"You must be hungry," Hermione announced as she rose from her chair.
"Yeah I'm actually kind of starving."
After pouring a bit of leftover soup into a pan, Hermione went to get the children, she had almost forgotten about them. She pushed aside the rather large, heavy box that was blocking the entrance to a small room.
"Okay kids you can come out now, everything is safe," Hermione called into the blackness.
Almost instantly a head and torso of one of the children popped out of the hole. After Hermione helped the girl to her feet, she then bent down and helped the rest of the children out of the hole and to their feet. She dusted them off and hustled them into the main room where the long table was. The children stopped abruptly when they saw Bill, who was a stranger to them, sitting at the table.
"Everyone this is Mr. Weasley, he's a good friend of mine, say hello," Hermione prompted
"Hello," the children all greeted in unison.
"Hello," Bill answered, with a kind smile and a nod of his head.
They all looked at him curiously as they took their seats. Hermione dished up the leftover soup for Bill and gave each of the children a biscuit and a little bit of butter.
"Bill how are we getting to C-34?" Hermione inquired.
Bill swallowed and spoke, "we'll go in two or three groups. The first group will go first, then I will come back for the second group, and then the third, if needed."
"But is that safe? Walking there, I mean."
"Yes, it's quite safe. I've got scouts posted throughout the area," Bill assured her.
Hermione then spoke, "when will we leave?"
"As soon as you're ready to go."
"We can all be ready to leave by tomorrow, at sunrise," Hermione answered.
"That's good," Bill said.
"Okay children I think it would be a good idea for all of you to go back to bed, we'll have a long day ahead of us tomorrow," Hermione announced.
The children nodded, rose from their seats, and murmured goodnights to both Hermione and Bill.
Well, what did you think? Love it, hate it, need's work, intrigued? Please tell me by reviewing, but please no flames, instead I would appreciate some constructive criticism. Thank you all for reading!
Thank's to my beta fanfictionsissy for all the help ;).