The Muggle War

Chapter 2 Herr Shneider

Colonel Hans Shneider's secret paranormal research division was a joke among the rest of the Nazis. The few that knew of its existence were amused by the fact that the Nazi army was actually allocating resources to research ghosts and goblins. Shneider himself did not listen to the rude comments he would hear, of course. He was confident in his work. He believed that there were certain powers in the world unexplainable by science, and that an open mind was what was needed to see, and perhaps harness, that power.

His biggest reason in creating the division was an experience he had as a boy. He was in a train station in Berlin with his parents, when he had followed a suspiciously dressed family into a solid brick wall that somehow led him to a platform in a different dimension of some kind. He had wandered among the people that were busily boarding a steam train. The people wore ancient looking robes, pointed hats, and all carried sticks that appeared to be magic wands. Soon enough some of them thought of little Hans to be misplaced, and marched back into his previous dimension. He never returned to that dimension, nobody believed his story. However, Hans was sure of what he had seen. It was an underground nation of wizards and witches. The fairy tales were true. Growing curiosity of that world developed into an obsession. Even after joining the Nazis and rising to a formidable position, he could never shake the wanting to find and return to that world. The only lead he had from his brief visit to the other world was the letters on the locomotive: Hogwarts Ocean-cross Express. The words have turned out to be English. So he guessed that the destination of the train was somewhere in Britain. No map revealed the name Hogwarts however. No matter where he looked.

A chance came when many long shot projects to develop new weapons were sought out and authorized by Hitler himself. Shneider used the opportunity to present the idea of military application for paranormal phenomena, suggesting a possible weapon in psychological warfare. All far-fetched projects were vigorously approved at the time, and Shneider gained Hitler's authorization without much difficulty. He was given a fully trained and equipped staff to search for Hogwarts and the magical world it was in.

The chance came abruptly. The Ministry of Magic was containing a breach at a German village as all of the furniture in every house had started to dance around, due to a prank pulled by a mostly harmless wayward wizard. The paranormal research division had dispatched a team to investigate, and ran into the ministry clean up team. The muggles were armed with primitive but effective anti-charm spells that they had learned from ancient muggle text as precaution. The ministry witches were caught off guard, as they were not allowed to hurt the muggles besides cleaning out their memories. The Nazis did not have such a rule, of course. Half the ministry clean up team was slaughtered by Nazi machine guns while the rest were captured. The Nazis gave unimaginable torture to the prisoners. The prisoners could not perform any charms or spells to help themselves, as the muggles knew about them through assembly of various texts. The prisoners tried to protect the magic world for as long as they could, but the brutal crippling torture by the Nazis finally broke them. The secret was out.

"They would actually torture someone?" asked Ron, breaking the concentration the three had on the book.

"Muggles can get pretty brutal," said Harry. There were worse muggles than even Uncle Vernon, all right. "I bet that's one of the most important reasons the ministry exists. Muggles would destroy the magical world if they had gotten wind of it."

"But here, they DID get wind of it," said Ron. "But we are still here."

"You read it just now! A wizard called Kennedy Kim and his band of wizards stopped Hitler," said Hermione, annoyed.

"I know that. What I am saying is, wouldn't someone have tried after Hitler," said Ron defensively. "I mean, they'd still know that the magical world was out there."

"Maybe those muggles who know keep it a secret. Nobody would believe them anyway. It was like that when Sirius escaped and the ministry let the muggles know. Besides, the muggles wouldn't want to risk another war," said Harry. "Wouldn't last long."

"In our favor?" asked Hermione.

"No, panic stricken muggles might use nuclear weapons. Then everything is lost," said Harry, looking worried.

"Nuclear what?" asked Ron.

Hermione didn't bother to react to that this time. She had already returned her attention back to the Muggle War book.

As he was the so-called expert in this field, Shnieder was charged with the expedition into the Magical World. The Nazis were preparing an entire army to enter the magical world by arming with anti-charm spells and long-range weapons. Meanwhile, Ministry prepared for the worst. A call to action was called upon all wizards while any activity involving mingling with muggles was prohibited.

"What if your parents were muggles? What if you made a living by doing something that needed interaction with muggles?" asked Hermione, breaking off from reading the book again.

"I wish we could see the events ourselves!" Ron exclaimed excitedly, oblivious of Hermione's question.

They came upon a blank page in the book.

"What's this?" asked Ron. Harry turned the pages but all the pages beyond were all blank white. Instead, new letters formed on the page: 'That can be arranged.' The three friends were stunned. The book was communicating with them. Harry looked worried.

"This is exactly what happened with Tom Riddle's diary on our second year. If you wrote on the book, you could talk to the book."

"Let's try!" Ron said and picked up his quill to write on the book.

"Wait! It could be dangerous!" Hermione said.

"I am only going to talk to it. What is it going to do? Suck us into it?" Ron said it as if the thought of a book harming them was preposterous.

"Ah, yeah. That's happened before," said Harry, remembering how Tom Riddle's diary had swallowed him whole once. The book was a portal into looking into the past as if Harry was actually there. Maybe this book could also...

"Ron, wait!" Harry said. It was too late. Ron had written down, 'Can you show us?'

Instantly the answers appeared. 'Yes.'

Harry tried to slam the book shut, but a blinding ray of light was already shining brighter and brighter, engulfing the three friends.

Harry felt a thump. He had landed on stone floor and it hurt. With an effort he pulled his mind together and stood up.

"Ron? Hermione?"

"Here, Harry," said Ron, apparently in pain. Harry walked up to him and helped him stand.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked, looking around.

"I thought a book found in our library would be safe," said Ron. He was about to say something else when Harry nudged him. Ron looked at Harry and saw him look around him in awe. Ron looked around himself for the first time. His mouth dropped open.