The Shadow of the Wand

The Shadow of the Wand

Chapter One-*- Dead or Alive?

*_*_*

Four years ago, everything was perfect in the Wizardry World compared to the present epoch. Voldemort being resurrected back by Peter Pettigrew and Cornelius Fudge's ignorance to the fact that Voldemort was back didn't help anything. But in the end, Fudge's ignorance had put him into his grave sooner than what anyone would have guessed. Though it was the Minister of Magic's mistake, it brought all of the innocent people into misfortune, especially those of Muggle parentage.

Fudge had opened the portals to the dark forces for Voldemort, through his bad

judgment. He didn't live long enough to see where that got the Wizardry World...

After killing the Minister and other important people at the Ministry of Magic,

Voldemort began to regain his terror over the Wizard World that was lost for the

long fifthteen years. His old Death Eaters who had been faithful to him more

than a decade ago went running back to him, kissing the ground that he walked

on. To add to his collection of Death Eaters, many new Wizards and Witches also

came running to his aid.

It wasn't about five months after Fudge's death when Voldemort began putting up concentration camps for all those who weren't purebloods or with him. About

forty of his Death Eaters ran each of the camps. They didn't hesitate to curse

any prisoners whenever they had the urge to.

Even though it seemed that Voldemort was doing this easily, he wasn't.

Dumbledore didn't ignore the fact that Voldemort was back to power again. He

called the 'Old Crowd' together, which consisted of Sirius Black, Remus Lupin,

Severus Snape, Mundungus Fletcher, Arabella Figg, and Melody Earten to his

office. Together there, they made up a resistance. This resistance was called the

Comradeship of the Light.

Someway or the other, Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived, had entered the

Comradeship. Along with him were his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione

Granger. Things were going well for the COTL for a short period of time. They

fought fiercely against Voldemort, making it a challenge for him to slay

Muggles and Muggle-Borns.

After a month of the Comradeship fighting Voldemort, the hostility finally

stopped. Not because one of the sides retreated, but because of Voldemort. He

had took two things so meaningful to the Comradeship of the Light, which had put

them in shock. The first thing was Hogwarts. He had brought an unexpected army

to take over the school. It was complete and utter chaos. Bodies were scattered around Hogwarts, animals were running about, children were trying to escape, hiding, or staying by their professors trying to help. But in the end, no matter how much the Professors of Hogwarts and the students fought, the Dark Lord still took over.

The next thing broke Harry's and Ron's hearts. He had taken one-third of both of them. Hermione. Her kidnapping had brought half of the resistance into a

depression. During that time of the depression of the Comradeship, Voldemort had

taken over Azkaban, making it his head concentration camp. Then Diagon Alley

was next.

It had took both Dumbledore and Hagrid to put the two men into their sane minds a month after Hermione was taken. No one knew if she was still alive, and if she

was, what camp she was at. After he was back to normal, Harry had activated

a program, called the Granger Organization. It was to make sure that the

children who weren't going to any magic school could get the proper learning at

home. Ron also contributed to the organization.

There is another thing that you should know before the story continues. Yet,

when the dark wave had started, most people needed work. It didn't matter which side they were on, they still needed money to take care of their families. Even though Harry didn't finished his last year of schooling, he was accepted into

the line of work that was meant for him all along. There were people calling

his name out on the street, sending owls, and spokespeople to offer him a job. He

turned all of them down, all except for one.

That one job had offered him a place; not because he was the Boy-Who-Lived, but the Elu Petiller had him down on one of its beads since he was conceived in his

mother's stomach. When it was ready, the chain gave off his name. Harry's career was one that he had been practicing for all of his life-- a fighter of evil. But

now, he had a career of it, being an Unspeakable.

And yet, all of the good doings didn't stop the terror that was happening.

**********

August Sixth, 2000

6:30 PM

*****

Carefully and with rapt attention, Ron set the last Exploding Snap card onto the

card-house that he had made. To his surprise, it didn't blow up. Grinning madly,

he sat back in his chair crossing his arms together. This pastime allowed him

to forget what was happening with the New World that he had known for four

years. It allowed him to take his mind off of the COTL, the Granger

Organization, and Hermione.

Ron looked at his building of cards, smiling. He had never done better. All of

the sudden, there was a loud noise of a door slamming shut. The invisible quake

headed towards the cards, and shoved them down. Ron groaned as his cards

splattered on the table. " Could you do that a little gently next time!" he

yelled out to his roommate.

A black-haired man entered the grubby kitchen where Ron was sitting. Truly,

this man was Harry Potter. " I'm sorry. I didn't know. I'll be more careful next

time," Harry said.

Ron forgot all about his cards falling to the table. Instead, he was more

concerned about Harry's whereabouts, since he knew that Harry had time off of

work. Ron bit his lip and asked, " Where were you?"

Harry spun around to face Ron; his own eyes meeting his best friend's. Each held

their glaze for a long moment. Harry knew what Ron was trying to do, but he also

knew that Ron wasn't any good at reading his face for information. The only

people who could were Dumbledore, Hermione, and Sirius.

When Ron finally relented, Harry smiled to himself. Another where- have- you-

been battle won. For if he had to tell Ron that each time he was missing, he was

on the roof, he was sure he would get laughed at. On the roof was Harry's

thinking and getaway place. At nights when the sky was clear, he looked at the

stars, saying, " Hermione, where are you?" And of course, there was no reply.

Harry started around the kitchen, getting bread, mayonnaise, and Swiss cheese.

However, before he got to take a bite, there were two loud pops heard. Sighing,

Harry put down his sandwich on the countertop. He turned around to see Sirius

and Remus. Harry narrowed his eyes. Looking at both of his parents' friends'

faces, he knew something was up.

" Into the living room!" Sirius ushered. Harry and Ron exchanged looks.

Perhaps... just maybe. They knew what each other were thinking. The

Boy-Who-Lived followed Sirius and Remus into the living room. As they sat on the

second-hand couch, Sirius used his wand to turn on the Wizard Television. The

Wizard inventors had decided that the Muggle devise was a good informative

product to the world. Many spells and enchantments had been put up, so the

Muggles who did come across a witch saying all kinds of reports about Muggles,

You-Know-You, Hogwarts, and Wizard treats would think nothing of it, and change the channel to something more 'interesting.'

The news appeared on the screen immediately after Sirius turned it on. A witch

wearing pink robes was standing in front of the Ministry building. The reporter

was saying something.

"...The spoke-wizard from the Department of Schooling explained that a voice

traveled through the department's system of speaking to each other. Rest

assured, nothing terrible happened, but the voice crackled, like the person who

the voice belonged to was far away from the department. The spokesperson, Allen

Roeper, says that the voice spoke of somebody getting help. Then two numbers,

which were 54 and 4. The voice, which sounded like a woman's, kept repeating

those numbers before disappearing." There the witch stopped to take a deep

breathe.

During that time, Harry turned to Remus, who was sitting on one of the two

chairs in the living room. Remus worked halftime as an interviewer for

home-schooling teachers for the department. " Was there anything else that

happened?" Harry asked.

Remus looked at him. The Werewolf seemed to be thinking things over in his mind.

" Moony, tell them," Sirius ordered.

Remus sighed and began to tell them what else was founded out. The two men were

quiet, waiting for an explanation from Remus. " Harry, Ron," he started, " The

voice kept saying two numbers, 54 and 4, right?" They nodded. " Investigators

thought that the two numbers were a point on the map or an address to

someplace." Harry bit his lip inwardly. It seemed that Remus was trying to tell

him something, but what?

Remus closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he started to explain more. " On

the map of England, the longitude is 54 and then the latitude is 4. Therefore,

the place that they connect is Manchester. The Aurors were sent there to

investigate." Remus paused to take a deep breathe before explaining more. His

glaze fell on the silent WT. " They came back with reports of a place in

Manchester that looked like it once was a concentration camp. There were dead

bodies everywhere," Remus concluded, his glaze now on Harry.

" I'm sensing a 'but' in there," Harry said.

Remus nodded, and went on. " In the rumble, they found a teenager, by the name

of Cassandra Marshfield. Harry, she might have knowledge on Hermione and maybe

can tell us if she is alive or dead."

As Remus said that, Harry felt hope tickling in the bloodstream that helped him

to stay animate.

**********

August Thirteenth, 2005

10:27 AM

*****

A week traveled by before Harry and Ron got to talk to Cassandra Marshfield.

Cassandra's nurses told everyone that Cassandra was in a fine condition, so

therefore, Cassandra had lots of visits from TV crews, Daily Prophet reporters,

family, friends, and people like Harry and Ron, who wanted to know if their

loved ones were still living.

So on a Saturday morning, Harry and Ron were spotted sitting in a greeting room.

The room had three windows off to the side that were letting in sunlight. There

was an oak table, with wood chairs that all had padding on their seats. Also,

for security purposes, there were two large plate-glass windows facing one of

the hospital's hallways.

Harry sat on one of the chairs, stiff as a board. Ron saw this, but didn't say

anything. He knew how Harry felt. Whatever Cassandra would say, it would help

them determine whether their best friend was still breathing.

Soon the sound of a door being opened was heard. Harry straightened up in his

chair just as a girl with strawberry-blonde hair in a wheelchair, was being

wheeled in by a nurse. With just one look, (given by Cassandra) the nurse bowed

to her, and hurried out of the room. Harry and Ron exchanged looks just for a

second, before returning to look at Cassandra. Cassandra wasn't looking at

either of them, but was just scanning over her fingernails. She was making sure

that there wasn't no dirt stuck up them, but there was. " Stupid nurse, she

missed a spot," she muttered, before looking up at Harry and Ron. " So,"

Cassandra started, " What do you want? Interview me? Take pictures? Ask me to be

on a TV show?" She paused before going on. " Whatever it is, I don't do any

chores, I would need a full make-up artist, and I don't talk about anything but

myself."

Harry bit his lip, and replied, "Actually, we are looking for someone."

Cassandra looked up, her glaze penetrating through Harry. " Well what do you

have for me?" she said causally, picking at her nails again.

" Why do we need to give you information?" Ron asked.

Cassandra suddenly changed her expressions. She tilted her head. It seemed that

Cassandra could easily generate tears as sticking out her tongue. Harry felt

anger boiling up. It was clear to him that Cassandra was a fake, but he didn't

say anything. The seventeen-year old opened her mouth. " Oh, I can't tell you

what happened! It's too terrible!" She paused, looking towards Ron, then Harry.

" But if you give me something, maybe I can spear the horrible parts, and tell

you about it."

Ron squinted. Who was she trying to fool? But he had his own tricks up his

sleeves. " You tell us first if you have any information on the person that we

are trying to find."

Cassandra sighed, and put her hand up to her forehead. After a few minutes, she

asked, " Whom are you trying to find?"

" Hermione Granger."

Suddenly Cassandra dropped her 'pity-me' act. She narrowed her eyes and looked

around the room. Her back was straightened, as if a chill enveloped it. Ron

exchanged looks with Harry as Cassandra motioned them to come closer. The two

twenty-two year olds did what Cassandra wanted, and she started to tell her

story.

" I was stationed at the concentration camp VW43, budding my time, waiting to be

saved. We all were. Although those thoughts weren't easy to think of when

Dementors came around. Anyways, every three weeks were the times to wet in your

pants. You- Know- Who came around to check on the camp always with a crew of

Dementors, Death Eaters, and a girl around your age." Cassandra took a deep

breathe, noticing that Harry and Ron were listening attentively. She continued,

" Every time the girl was entering the camp, she was in shackles, but was let go

later to do whatever You-Know-Who ordered."

" So she was like a sex girl?" Ron said, getting a creeping feeling up his

spine.

Cassandra shook her head. " No, I don't think so. You-Know-Who had a group for

that, but not her. Anyways, the girl came up to me the fourth time around that

she was at the camp when I was there. We had to make sure that none of the Death

Eaters caught us, or else pain would be inflicted upon both of us. She told me

to hang on there, and to go to the basement right before dinner, and stay down

there. I thought it was a trap at first, but there was something in the girl's

eyes, so I followed her advice." She wiped her eyes quickly, then turned to

Harry and Ron.

" You-Know-Who wanted to lessen his responsibility, and was going to let us die

in a fire. There was a heat-protecting charm in the basement, so I could live. I

was really surprised; I didn't know what to expect. So when I climbed out of the

rumble, there were burnt bodies everywhere. So burnt, you couldn't even tell who

was who anymore. I seemed to overlook where I was, and by the time I remembered,

there was that girl who helped me survive. I asked her what her name was after

thanking her, and she just shook her head, and told me to stay there. Then as

she was going off again, I asked again for her name, and she said it was

Hermione Granger..."

**********

At the same time...

*****

Hermione stood at the doorway looking in scorn of her new cell. She switched

cells every two days; this was because she switched camps along with Voldemort.

You- Know- Who wanted to keep Hermione with him at all times. When asked about

this by his Death Eaters, Voldemort simply said, " If I can't kill Harry Potter

yet, then let him suffer." And that was it.

At first, Hermione was scared out of her pants to be with Voldemort daily. But

she got a lot better through time, though she was still afraid of the curses

that were inflicted upon her whenever Voldemort or another Death Eater felt like

it.

With a shove, Hermione was trapped inside of her new home for two days. She

sighed, and began her slow walk to a batch of hay. It wasn't always like this,

but ever since Voldemort had caught her trying to get help from the outside, she

was put into a cell. So now she was confined to the cage, her only visitors were

Death Eaters who came to give her meals once a day, or to torture her, or

Dementors, who gave her bad thoughts whenever she wasn't ready. But she followed

what Sirius had done, and kept the bad memories in her mind when the hooded

creatures came around to keep herself sane.

She sighed, and laid down to take a nap.

**********

When Hermione finally woke up, she sat up quickly. There was someone else in the

cell, but it wasn't a Death Eater. It wasn't even a Dementor. However, it was a

girl who was probably three years younger than she was. The girl had dark brown

hair that was longer than her own, and intense brown eyes that were starring at

Hermione. The new person wasn't beautiful, but then again, she wasn't ugly

either. It didn't seem like this new person wasn't a Death Eater, but was like

herself; all except that the girl still had some of her skin color left. If

Hermione was compared with the new girl, the girl would make Hermione look like

a ghost.

When Hermione finally found her voice, she asked, " Who are you?"

The girl opened her mouth. " Anastasia Palmer. You?"

Hermione narrowed her eyes. From the accent of Anastasia's voice, Hermione

immediately knew that she wasn't from England or anywhere in Europe. " Hermione

Granger," she said. " Where are you from?"

Anastasia smiled, and shook her head. " I'm from the United States."

" Then why are you over in England?"

" I came over with a group of my school friends for the summer to explore. I

didn't know about what was happening here, or else I wouldn't have come. I was

soon captured."

Hermione nodded, and sat down in her spot. She put her head against the stone

wall, wondering why on earth would Voldemort put someone else in her cell.

Finally, after thinking about it, her mind reached the verdict. ' Maybe there

weren't enough cells in this place.'

**********

August fifthteenth, 2005

1:45 PM

*****

Harry sat in his living room of Ron's and his flat; along with him were Ron,

Remus, Sirius, Dumbledore, and the rest of the Comradeship of Light. Harry sat

there, with his left hand up against his forehead. He was doing this to calm

down. Just before, everyone had blown up against each other about what they

should do about the whole situation. It had taken Dumbledore to calm the group

down when he got the chance to.

Harry took a few seconds, and looked up from his spot. " Let's not do this

without any fights, OK?" Everyone nodded. " From what I gathered, Voldemort has

Hermione with him everywhere he goes, so this won't be easy." He had barely

noticed that everyone except Dumbledore had flinched at the name. But those who

did, didn't holler at him for using the real name.

Arabella Figg looked into his eyes, " You knew that this wouldn't be easy,

anyways."

Harry sighed and nodded. " Well does anyone have any suggestions about what we

should do?"

" Well, we need to figure out what camp she's at first. That will be very hard."

This came from Lupin.

Ron and Harry exchanged looks. " Actually, it won't be that hard," Ron said.

" What do you mean?"

"Well," Harry started, " What if we use my job as a tool. We could always go out

and spy and keep record of where Voldemort is usually off to. Or we could always

beat it out of a pathetic follower."

Sirius shook his head. " There's a fine line between work and personal, Harry."

Harry suddenly stood up. " There's also a point where you'll do anything to get

your family out of evil's harm." His voice rose higher. " Hermione is the first

person in the Wizardry World that didn't think so highly of me, and my so-called

fame. She is the only person who always stayed by my side. When I was to be

thought of Slytherin's heir, who stood by me? She did. When I had the episode

with the Goblet of Fire, who stayed by my side? She did. Who stayed there and

made sure I studied for my exams when all I really wanted to do was to ride my

Firebolt? She did. And what have I done to stay by her. Can any of you answer

that question?" He paused a moment, while everyone sat there. All knew that

Harry had stood by Hermione, but all of the situations were unreachable at the

time.

The tears that he had been holding back so he wouldn't appear unmanly like,

escaped. "

See you can't. If all of you don't care about Hermione, and all of the horrors

that she is going through, stay here. I don't care." At that point, Harry ran

out of the room, leaving a stunned audience.

**********

August Fifthteenth, 2005

2:10 PM

*****

Harry sat himself on a bench outside of a park. There were scarcely any people

walking around on the sidewalk. So many of them were in hiding, afraid to come

out their homes if they didn't have to, or were already captured, and either put

in one of Voldemort's cells or deceased. A person, who wasn't neither of those,

was sometimes another helper to Voldemort. Many people were scared, and those

who weren't got themselves killed if they weren't careful. But Harry and the

other COTL weren't those people.

As Harry sat out there, all he could feel was revenge in his bloodstream. How

could he not? All his life he was abnormal, always fighting Voldemort, or some

other evil force. Heck, he couldn't even get a girlfriend that didn't care about

his fame. But something in back of his head told him that wasn't true.

He looked up as someone sat by him. It was Ron. For awhile, they just sat there,

neither saying anything. As they sat there, both where trying to listen to the

sounds around them, though there weren't a lot.

When Ron finally broke the silence, he was sure that Harry was calm enough to be

spoken to. " All of us cares about Hermione, Harry."

" I know that."

" We want to help you find her, even if it means using your job as a tool."

Harry felt a smile appear on his face as he nodded. They sat there for awhile

before Harry spoke up. " I'm sorry about making you feel left out in my little

speech before I rushed out."

The sound of Ron's laughter reached his ears. " You didn't. All of the things

you said were true. I did gawk at you when I first met you, and I did turn

against you in fourth year, when Hermione was the opposite." He paused. " I do

miss her, even though I don't miss that all-school personality when she has it."

The two men laughed together. It had felt so good to being able to laugh, as

hope and faith traveled through their bodies.

**********

At the same time...

*****

Voldemort looked at the letter in his hand. A nasty smirk was enveloped upon his

face. He looked at one of his Death Eaters who was standing by his side.

The Death Eater looked at Voldemort, and as if on cue, the Dark Lord said, "

It's ready. Get the Mudblood ready to go to Azkaban, Krum."

*************