Sadness, Deep Sadness

Harry was sitting on a tree stump with no idea what to do.

Go to that village-or walk until he found out how to get back to Hogwarts.

Which could take days. Or longer.

In the end, he decided to go to the village, even though it could be dangerous.

But then again, Voldemort probably thought he was dead, freezing to death on top of the mountain. He probably thought that, even if Harry got to the bottom of that mountain, he wouldn't trust the village.

Harry set off into the sunrise, towards the village, which he hoped was safe.

***

"Ron, I really thought last night about what you said," Hermione was saying.

"And?" Ron asked anxiously.

"Well, I suppose it would be...nice," she continued. "And, after all, we have always had that...arguing thing. I thought it was...sort of fun for us."

"Yeah," Ron blushed scarlet. "So...be patient, I haven't done this since I asked Fleur Delecour out in fourth year...would you like to...spend next weekend in Hogsmeade? That's the next date for it."

"Erm," Hermione said. "I wanted to study, but I suppose it would be nice. We could figure out how to get Harry back."

Ron felt that wouldn't be the right thing to do on their date. "Or...we could just stay here..."

"We could..."

"Or we could go to that little tea shop Harry and Cho went to last year..."

"We could..."

"Oh yeah, I like that second one," Ron said.

"The tea shop?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah," Ron replied, moving closer.

"Well..." Hermione said, moving closer as well, "that'd be nice..."

***

As Harry came closer to the village, he noticed that it seemed quiet.

He walked through the open gates, but saw no one. "Hello?"

"Hello?" he called again. "Hello?"

No one answered.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Harry called out. "Er, I come in...peace."

Several faces appeared from behind buildings, in windows.

Someone stepped forward. "Hello? Who are you?"

"Er...Harry Potter, sir."

"Harry Potter?" the man asked. "Will you hurt us?"

"...No," Harry replied. "But...does anyone have a map? I'm sort of lost."

"I have one," a woman spoke up. "A map of the whole area." She left to go get it.

"I have another question," Harry said. "Where are we? Are we in Europe?"

"Yes," the man spoke. "This is the village of Tern. It's in France, out on the edge."

"But there aren't snow-covered mountains there," Harry replied questioningly. "I just came off of one nearby." He pointed in the direction he had come, but saw no mountain. "Well, there was a mountain there, I snowboarded down it. It was about a half hour's walk from the bottom to here."

"Son, I'm sure you had a hallucination," the man said. "I'm Stephan, by the way. Not 'Steven'. 'Ste-fun'."

"Er, okay," Harry said. "But the mountain..."

"Here's the map, Mr. Potter," came a voice behind him. Harry saw an angel. With wavy blonde hair twisted into braids on top of her head, and a beautiful smile. "My name is Eve. My mother wanted me to bring it to you, she has to tend to the chickens."

"Thanks," Harry smiled at her. He could tell she was shy. But she seemed nice. He figured she was about 15 years old. But she was a Muggle. But Harry was falling for her already.

He looked at the map. Of course Hogwarts was Unplottable, but he knew about where it was.

"Wow, Hog-er, my destination is really far," Harry said in awe. Farther than he thought. "What time is it? I need to get going if I want to get there in about a week."

"Don't be silly," Stephan said. "You need to stay with us and rest up for the trip. We welcome visitors. After a few days, you should be stronger for the trip. We'll give you provisions."

"Thanks," Harry said. These people weren't all bad.

"You can stay with my mother and I," Eve spoke up. "We need the extra help, for a few days at least."

"Settled then," Stephan said. Harry could tell he was the leader. Probably the mayor.

Harry followed Eve to a small, run-down hut on the edge of the village square. "Mother," Eve said. "Harry will stay with us for a few days, isn't that all right?"

"Yes, we need the help," Eve's mother said. "My name is Greta. You will get up at dawn each day and work until noon. Then you will have a short lunch, then work until sunset."

"Yes m'am," Eve said. She stepped on Harry's foot. Hard.

"Ouch-er, yes m'am," Harry said quickly.

Eve and Harry went inside. The hut consisted of two rooms-a rooms with a bed in the corner; and the second room was very small. It had a small pile of rags in the corner and a bucket of water in the other. There was a small pile of neatly folded dresses next to the bucket, hand-sewn and both alike.

"This," Eve said shyly, "is my room."

"Really?" Harry asked in surprise, but stopped himself. He knew he came off as rude. It was a good thing Greta wasn't there.

"Yes," Eve said quietly. "I...don't have much money."

"What about your mother?"

"Oh, she...Harry, sit down." Eve indicated towards the pile of rags Harry presumed was her bed.

"Harry, I have to explain something," Eve said in hushed tones. "Greta-she isn't my mother. My mother-she sold me to Greta when I was five. I'm...sort of a slave."

"Oh, Eve..." Harry didn't know what to say. "But, can't you leave?"

"No." Eve was crying now. "My mother disliked me enough to sell me away to someone like Greta and leave me. I don't have any money of my own except what I can earn from other people. Greta wouldn't give me money. She's greedy. I'm afraid...I'm afraid that she'll make you her man-slave."

"She can't do that," Harry said. "She can't have a slave, that's illegal."

"But we don't have that law," Eve whispered. "Our village isn't even on most maps, here we're allowed to have slaves."

"But why was everyone so scared when I came?" Harry asked.

"Well, because...many years ago, an evil, evil man came to our small village and...I-I don't know what he did exactly, but...he destroyed our village and killed most of our people."

"Was his name..." Harry started to ask, but he knew the dreaded answer.

Eve was whispering. "His name was...Lord Voldemort."