War Changes

Hermione shot up in bed. She was breathing heavily and was dripping in cold sweat. She dabbed her forehead with her sheet and laid back down. She had just had a horrible nightmare about Harry being tortured at the Death Eaters headquarters. It seemed so real, too real. These nightmares had been happening ever since Harry just disappeared. She had a feeling that he wasn't dead, but where else could he be? She knew the Death Eaters would have made a big show out of killing Harry, just like they did when they killed Dumbledore. Shivers ran down Hermione's spine, thinking of Dumbledore dying infront of her eyes, that scared her out of her mind. Seeing him so helpless, and vulnerable, it just showed how much danger they were. If Dumbledore could get killed, than anyone could.

Whenever she wasn't thinking of Harry she was thinking of Ron. She remembered when she saw his body lying on the stone floor in the Great Hall, which was now being used as a morgue almost. Bodies piled up everywhere, the room smelled of rotting flesh. A million and one different scent charms couldn't put a stop to the horrid odor that haunted everyone in the castle. Ron was lying next to the body of two Ravenclaws who she had not seen before. He was stone cold. Hermione grabbed his hand and put it up against her cheek. Then she started crying. Not a loud cry, just a sob. It was the first and last time she saw Ron's body. She knew it was still in there, but she couldn't bring herself to going through that misery again. The death in the castle wrapped itself around her like a shawl and she knew there was no way she could go in there.

The light side was losing, badly. More Muggles were dying too. It was a miracle Hermione was still alive. Muggleborns were the first group of people on the Death Eaters list. She couldn't think of one other Muggleborn that she knew who was still alive. There were only a small fraction of the student fighters left, most of the fighting was being done by adults now. Most of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who had signed up to be medics or planners were now being forced into fighting. The Hufflepuffs were horrible fighters. They had trouble lasting for a day.

Hermione's only motivation of staying alive was Ginny. Ginny was all she had left. Her parents were killed immediately, just like the parents of the other Muggleborns. Of course Harry and Ron were gone, so Ginny was her only family. They tried keeping each other's spirits high, but they both knew it was worthless. Ginny was out there fighting the day Ron died and Harry disappeared. She didn't see it, but she said later on that a horrible feeling came into her stomach. She claimed she didn't think much of it, she just figured that it was a butterfly in her stomach or something. Hermione wasn't even out fighting that day. She was in the hospital wing, sleeping. The day before she had tripped and had sprained her ankle, Madam Pomfrey wanted her to stay in bed for a day or two. Thinking about how Ron and Harry were dying when she was sleeping made her stomach turn. How could she have stayed in bed that day? She could have possibly prevented Ron from dying!

Madam Pomfrey sent Hermione into London to buy more medical supplies. The potions were taking too long to make, and with the Hufflepuffs making them, there wasn't even a guarantee that they would work. They needed the Muggle medicines for smaller injuries. She had Ginny dye her hair black so she wouldn't be so distinguishable. She dressed herself in muggle clothes, jeans, black T-shirt and then she put on a leather jacket. She put on make-up, something she hadn't worn in who knows how long, and then took a waiting port-key to a London telephone booth.

London didn't seem like it was part of a war, it looked exactly as she remembered it. It was dreary, slightly raining. Muggles were hustling about as to not get wet. "Fools," she thought to herself. "If they only knew what was going on in my world, they wouldn't care about the rain."

She walked into a general store and headed for the medicine aisle. She picked up Band-Aids, gauze, and various types of medicine. Not wanting to go back to the wizarding world, she decided to wander around London for a little bit longer. She went into a few clothing stores and looked at all the new so-called trends in the Muggle world. Hermione never understood how Muggles got into some of these trends, tube tops and such. After about an hour she decided to get something to eat.

It had been such a long time since she had something good to eat. Since the houselves had run away the only food they had gotten to eat was soup, and crackers every once in a while. Hermione used to like soup, but having it everyday for months was a bit much. She saw a restaurant with a big "M" on the sign and decided to go in there.

"Hi, welcome to McDonalds, can I take your order?" the perky blonde girl at the counter asked Hermione.

Hermione looked up at the bright colored menu on the wall. "Um...I'll have three cheeseburgers, wait make that four, and two large fries, and for my drink I'll have...water."

The girl at the counter gave Hermione a quizzical look. "Is that for here or to go?"

"For here," Hermione responded as she handed the girl the amount of money she saw on the screen.

A few minutes later Hermione's menu was ready. As she was walking back to her seat she saw a strange cutout of a clown. "That's a little scary," she thought to herself, referring to Ronald McDonald.

She found herself a seat and sat down. She didn't waste anytime in starting to eat. She devoured her first two cheeseburgers in less than five minutes only stopping to breathe. The three-year-old girl sitting in the booth next to her was staring at Hermione wide-eyed. Hermione shook it off and ate her first large fry, which was done in no less than four minutes. Hermione continued on in this pattern, eat, breathe, eat, and breathe until she was done. She took a deep breath and just sat in the booth for a couple of minutes. She'd never eaten anything so fast in her life, she didn't want it taken away. The thought of this kind of scared her, she used to be able to eat when she wanted and what she wanted, and now she was acting like a bum at a buffet table. Hermione laid her head on her folded arms. "I wonder if Ron ever ate here...I bet he'd like it...I don't think Harry would..." Hermione thought to herself, and then fell asleep, still in McDonalds.