Harry Potter and the Remnants of the Soul

Chapter Two: Horrors of War

At the end of the school year, Hogwarts had been in disarray, but none of the houses more so than Slytherin. Dumbledore had been murdered by their head of house, and this event forced the underlying division within Slytherin to bloom rapidly. Every single student was forced to choose sides: those who supported Voldemort or those who did not.

Among the sixth years, Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe, Greg Goyle, and Millicent Bullstrode openly declared their allegiance to the Dark Lord. On the other hand, Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott decided to 'keep their opinions to themselves.'

As the students were packing to leave for their homes, Pansy Parkinson entered the boys' dormitory and nicked several of Draco Malfoy's belongings. She also took his personal journal, which included detailed notes on most of his classmates and a list of Muggleborn students. When she arrived home, she copied the list and gave it to her father, who passed it along to a friend, who passed it along again.

In an action aimed to inspire terror, the Death Eaters timed three waves of simultaneous attacks for midnight on the second Monday after the Hogwarts students returned home.

---888---

In Whitechapel, just north of the river Thames, Dean Thomas was home with his family and best friend, Seamus Finnigan. The West Ham United were scheduled to match up against Chelsea the following day, and Dean had finally convinced Seamus to come watch the Muggle sport. Shortly after midnight, the two teenagers were the only ones awake in the one-story ranch style home.

Dean was sitting on his bed next to Seamus, flipping through a football magazine. "If they're behind the last defender and they touch the ball, it's called offsides," he explained.

"But isn't that penalizing the attacker for good positioning?" replied Seamus, still not understanding the rule.

Outside the window, Severus Snape was directing three other Death Eaters as they set up anti-Apparation wards. "Keep an eye on that window." He gestured to the only light in the house. "They will try to escape. Do not permit them to leave the house."

When the magical flames engulfed the home, Dean and Seamus feebly attempted to protect his family. They ran through the hallway screaming, "FIRE," as they coughed on the thick black smoke filling the home. When his stepsisters did not emerge from their bedroom, Dean barged in to find one frantically trying to wake the other. Wasting little time, he hefted her over his shoulder and led his family to the front door.

When Dean placed his hand on the nearly molten brass doorknob, he screamed out in pain, but he wrenched the door open nonetheless. For one brief moment, relief surged through his arteries before a sickly pale green light streaked past him and felled his stepsister.

"Death Eaters!" shouted Seamus. However, in their haste to evacuate Dean's family, neither Wizard had remembered to bring his wand. Death, unfortunately, did not come swiftly for the remaining members of the Thomas household. Voldemort's servants petrified Seamus, Dean, his mother, stepfather, two brothers, and stepsister and banished them back into the burning home.

In Cardiff, a similar fate awaited the quiet Ravenclaw, Kevin Entwhistle. He and his mother lived alone in a fourth-floor apartment.

Timothy Yaxley, and two other robed figures, silently stole into the apartment and killed Entwhistle as he slept. His mother was then placed under the Imperious Curse and forced to leap from her window, to her death, as flames licked at the curtains in her freshly painted kitchen.

On the outskirts of Liverpool, Lillian Moon was staying with her older sister. From the west, Fenrir Greyback and a team of Death Eaters approached a summer cottage set near a cliff overlooking the Irish Sea. Just after midnight, the interior lights burned brightly. An observer could watch two sisters laughing and enjoying a tub of vanilla ice cream. Suddenly, the roof of the cottage collapsed, killing both.

---888---

In Exeter, Justin Finch-Fletchley punched the accelerator of his BMW Coupe around five minutes to midnight. In the passenger seat, Ernie MacMillan sat with a silly grin on his face.

"We have got to do that again," Ernie stated. "Those girls were beautiful."

"It's hot, Ernie," Justin replied with a laugh. "University girls aren't beautiful. They're hot."

"I stand corrected, oh exalted master of the hot Muggle women."

"That's better," replied Justin, as he turned up the long private drive to his parents' estate. "I think we made it back before curfew."

"Oh shit! Grab your wand! Death Eaters!"

"Not here?"

"Yes, here!"

Justin, sufficiently convinced that Ernie wasn't putting him on, raced the engine as he covered the last hundred feet to his home.

The two teens, recently returned from a night club, leapt from the car, wands drawn, as spells began to fly through the air.

Peter Pettigrew was shocked when he realized that his target had not been in the house that he was trying to burn down. When he saw the sports car coming up the drive, he instructed the three Death Eaters with him to kill the occupants of the car. He then transformed into a rat and scampered behind the rubbish bins. Fortune was temporarily on the betrayer's side that night as the two boys took cover behind the car. While Wormtail's cohorts barraged the car with spells, he silently crept up behind the two.

"Reducto!"

It was undoubtedly the most powerful curse at Pettigrew's disposal, and it had the effect of a car bomb. Justin and Ernie died within moments after the shrapnel tore through their bodies. The noise however, had drawn the attention of Justin's father who emerged from the house with his hunting shot gun.

The man, who had just witnessed his only son's murder, took careful aim and sprayed the rat animagus with birdshot before charging him and beating him over the head with the butt of his gun.

However, a sickly pale light stretched out its fingers and choked the life out of James Fletchley, leaving only a surprised look on the stockbroker's face. His body, that of his wife, son, and an unidentifiable teenager were found the next morning when he did not come to work.

---888---

The horrors of the evening were only beginning, as teams of Death Eaters visited Paul Spinks and Wayne Hopkins at their homes in Bristol and Birmingham. The two Hufflepuffs, best friends, died alongside their families while sleeping. Su Li, a beautiful Ravenclaw, was not so fortunate. Bellatrix Lestrange brought along only one other Death Eater, but the pair subdued Su's family of eight and tortured each one into insanity before conjuring a venomous snake to bite them all.

After leaving Dean Thomas' home in Whitechapel, Severus Snape's team of Death Eaters Apparated to Deptford. There, they closed in on the home of a milkman and his two sons. All three were sound asleep at twenty minutes after midnight when their front door silently swung open and the outlines of three men crossed the threshold. Each masked figure crept along a hallway and entered a bedroom before crying out, "Avada Kedavra!"

As the three shadows crept out of Chester Creevey's home into the cool evening air, one raised his arm and shouted, "Morsmordre!" An immense translucent green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth appeared over the home.

When Mrs. Ethelbard Mordaunt saw the skull from three blocks away, she hurriedly locked her doors and windows, summoned her three kneazles, and traveled by Floo to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Tom, Tom," she cried hysterically. "There's a Dark Mark over Deptford!"

The old inn-keeper asked a nearby patron to notify the Ministry and brought a cup of tea over to comfort the woman. No one noticed Rita Skeeter slip out the door of the tavern a few moments later.

---888---

About this time, Peter Pettigrew and his three companions Portkeyed into a quiet London neighborhood named Fleischer's Place. Pettigrew was bleeding profusely from the birdshot lodged in his back, but he was too fearful to return to his master without ensuring the death of his primary objective, Hermione Granger.

Counting from the cross-street, Pettigrew's team surrounded the fourth house and cast an anti-Apparation ward around the home before setting it ablaze. The small wooden structure burned quickly as the Death Eaters waited to see if the occupants of the home would try to escape. For ten minutes, Pettigrew continued to bleed before the approaching sounds of a fire engine reassured him that his task was finished.

"I'm returning to the Dark Lord," he said to those with him. "Go back to your families. The Dark Lord will call again."

His companions abandoned him, and he turned to the burning building. "Morsmordre!"

In Surrey, Harry Potter looked up from his desk where he was reading through one of Dumbledore's journals. His owl, Hedwig, who had been quietly perched in her cage, was now rustling about while trailing soft hoots.

"You need to go out, girl?" Harry opened the window and released his beautiful snowy owl before returning to the journal, which told the story of the Grindelwald's defeat.

---888---

Thirty kilometers outside of Manchester, Fenrir Greyback and his team arrived at their fourth home of the night. His team had begun to function as a well-oiled machine. In the course of one minute, weak anti-Apparation wards were erected, the home was ablaze, and four Death Eaters surrounded the home with wands trained on all three doors.

Across the street, from a second floor window, a Ravenclaw named Ryne Rivers watched in horror as his blazing home lit the night sky. From his vantage point, he exhaled in relief as his younger sister and parents escaped the burning home. But, just as he started to turn away from the window, he saw three streaks of green light shoot out from behind a large rock at the border of their property. Time seemed to slow as the bursts of magic struck down his immediate family and cloaked figures examined the bodies. One however, tilted his head to the waxing gibbous moon and howled.

"Oh, God, no!" Ryne said, horrified.

"What happened?" asked his Muggle girlfriend, Elizabeth. She stood by his side, not understanding the meaning of the green lights.

"Oh, God, no!" he repeated.

"Ryne, what is going on?" pressed Elizabeth.

"We have to go. Get dressed," he said pulling on his own pants in a frenzy.

"What do you mean?"

"They just killed my family."

"Who did?"

"Death Eaters. Get dressed! Hurry!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" shouted Elizabeth, her confusion still spelled out across her disbelieving face.

"I'll tell you later, but we're in danger. Get dressed!"

A moment later, the two were fully clothed, and Ryne had pulled an eleven-inch stick from the sleeve of his sweater. "This is going to feel cold, but it will save our lives. Obscuratio."

Elizabeth gasped in surprise as she felt an invisible cold liquid drip down from her head.

"Shh! You have to be completely silent," Ryne commanded. "They can't see you." He led her to the back door of her house and tentatively stuck his head out. "It looks clear. We'll go through the forest." After a tense twenty minutes of walking along in silence, Ryne began by telling his girlfriend that he was a wizard. They hiked for two hours through the sparse forest discussing the magical world, before arriving in a small village and taking shelter in an old dilapidated inn.

---888---

Reports of the massacres occurring all over Britain leaked from the Ministry that night. Aurors, Obliviators, and reporters were all dispatched to various homes, often arriving in reverse order. The discoveries were grisly crime scenes that served as witness to the unspeakable evil visited upon the families of Hogwarts' students.

Harry was unaware of all of this until a tawny owl began pecking at his window around nine o'clock the following morning. Commenting that the owl was late, he denied the interloper a treat from Hedwig's empty cage. Unfurling the paper, he gasped in shock.

~~ ~~ ~~

The Daily Prophet

June 23, 1997

MONDAY MUGGLEBORN MASSACRE!!!

In yet another devastating loss in the aftermath of Albus Dumbledore's death, the Ministry of Magic was unable to stop dozens of attacks on Muggleborn witches and wizards this morning. At 12:42 a.m. a wizard, who wishes to remain unnamed, informed aurors that, "There is a Dark Mark over Deptford."

In the next twenty minutes, nine more Dark Mark sightings were called into the Ministry. After initial analysis, Aurors believe that families of Muggleborn students who attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry were targeted.

At press time, the victims of all ten reported attacks and six more, which were discovered without reports, were identified as Muggleborns at the school. After recognizing this pattern, Aurors contacted Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, who reluctantly released a list of such students. Aurors were checking on these families and unconfirmed reports indicated at least seventeen additional crime scenes had been discovered by The Daily Prophet's 2:00 a.m. deadline.

A full list of casualties will be printed tomorrow, but the Ministry is concerned about on-going attacks. It has advised all citizens to stay in their homes and keep their wands nearby. The victims who have been identified are listed on pages 3 and 4.

~~ ~~ ~~

Harry ripped the front page of the paper in his haste to find the list of casualties. He recognized most of the names on the list, including six of his classmates, and the two Creevey brothers. Searching frantically for Hermione's name, he nearly fainted with momentary relief when he discovered it was not present. Desperately wishing to contact her, he whirled around to search for Hedwig, but his owl was not there.

Diving towards his trunk, he flung open the top and began hysterically heaving books, clothes, sweets, quills, potion ingredients, and parchment out of the way. Acid seeped into the pit of his stomach as he vainly searched for the Standard Book of Spells, year two. He knew the page where he had written Hermione's phone number, just in case a crazy house-elf decided to intercept his mail again. The book would not be found.

"Oh, damn the Ministry! Accio second year spell book!" A thin tome rocketed out from beneath a putrid robe, and Harry ran to the telephone in the Dursleys' kitchen. Dialing rapidly, his heart sunk when a recorded voice informed him that no connection was available. The line had been disconnected.

Ignoring Dudley's disbelieving stare, Harry bound back up the stairs forming a plan that involved his broom and invisibility cloak. As he was sorting through the jumbled pile of his belongings, an owl began pecking at the window. Without looking up he yelled, "I don't care Hopkirk! I'm not going back!"

Finally, Harry secured his broom and invisibility cloak before turning to leave the room. However, out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the owl at the window was Hedwig, not the Ministry owl he expected. Nimbly crossing the room, Harry opened the window and snatched the letter from Hedwig's beak.

~~ ~~ ~~

Dear Harry,

I have never been more relieved to see Hedwig than I was tonight! Last week, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick placed our house under the Fidelius Charm. I think it saved our lives.

Just after midnight, I heard shouting and went to the window. Mrs. Eastover's home was on fire. I thought I saw four Death Eaters, so we just stayed in the house. It has been very tense for the last few hours, as we have watched the firemen try and extinguish the fires. Aurors arrived about twenty minutes after the fire fighters. They discreetly put out the flames and obliviated the neighbors.

It appears that the Fidelius Charm is working because no one has approached our door or even looked at the house. My mother is demanding that we leave, but so far I have convinced her that we are safer here. My father is taking it a bit more calmly.

I don't believe anyone was hurt. Mrs. Eastover left for Austria a week ago and will not be back for two more weeks. I even saw her cat running around later, so I don't think anyone died. Still, it is extremely frightening knowing that Death Eaters tried attacking us. Perhaps you should consider shortening your stay at the Dursleys'. I am nervous that the wards will not hold up there.

Please return Hedwig as soon as possible to let me know you are safe. I am worried for both you and Ron. I doubt I am Voldemort's only target. Please send along The Daily Prophets you have finished. The post owls seem to be unable to penetrate the charm.

Harry, be safe.

Love from,

Hermione

~~ ~~ ~~

Halfway through reading Hermione's missive, Harry's knees buckled in relief and he fell onto his bed. As he finished the note, tears welled up in the corners of his eyes as he realized just how close he had come to losing his best friend. It took him nearly twenty minutes and three readings of the letter before he found a never-out quill and parchment.

~~ ~~ ~~

Hermione,

I am relieved beyond words to hear that you are safe. I am sending Hedwig via the Weasleys' as they are undoubtedly worried for you, too. Read the article before continuing this letter. (By the way, I'm safe here, no Death Eaters or anything.)

I was so worried after reading the paper. The majority of the names seem like they are older students. I am positive that Draco Malfoy is behind this. When I see him next, I will kill him. He caused this even if he didn't take part in it. I don't know how, I just know.

Hermione, Voldemort will be especially angry if he finds out you did not die. I'm trying to think of a way to get your name in tomorrow's paper. If you have any ideas, it would probably be for the best.

I'll send this for now because I want it to get to Ron as soon as possible. But, when Hedwig arrives back, I'm buying you an owl. We need a better way to communicate between the three of us. Do you have any idea how the Marauders charmed the mirrors? I'll start looking through my books today.

Hermione, you be safe,

Harry

~~ ~~ ~~

Taking another scrap of parchment, Harry quickly penned a second note for Hedwig to deliver to Ron.

~~ ~~ ~~

Dear Ron,

Hermione is safe. They burnt the house next door to hers. I've given Hedwig the letter she wrote to me so you can read it. You can read the one I wrote to her, too. Are you safe? I'm worried for you, but it sounds like Voldemort just went after the Muggleborns.

Harry

~~ ~~ ~~

After tying the letters to Hedwig's leg, Harry gently smoothed her feathers. Reaching inside of her cage, he fed the bird an owl treat. "Hedwig, I need you to take these to Ron and then Hermione. Fly as quickly as you can; it's important."

Hedwig blinked her large yellow eyes in understanding and hooted softly before pressing her head against Harry's. She nipped at his hand affectionately before spreading her wings and taking flight out the window. Harry did not notice that she left Privet Drive in the opposite direction of the Burrow, but rather flew directly to Fleischer's place where both letter recipients were visiting over a cup of tea.

When Hedwig returned with notes from both Ron and Hermione, Harry sent his snowy owl to Eeylops Owl Emporium with a note instructing them to send their, 'Best, most loyal, intelligent, speedy, and beautiful owl,' to him. He promised to pay the shopkeeper handsomely and was not disappointed when a reddish-brown owl accompanied Hedwig back to Privet Drive.

After writing a short note, Harry attached the parchment to the owl's leg and told the bird to find Hermione Granger. The owl returned five hours later with a note thanking Harry for the owl. "His name is Phaedippas," she wrote.

On Tuesday, Harry woke early to await The Daily Prophet. When the news owl arrived, he quickly scanned the full list of victims from Monday's attacks. He was horrified to learn that the list had grown to forty-three Hogwarts students and their family members -- ten from his year alone.

When he read the circumstances of Dean and Seamus' deaths, he was filled with outrage for his friends. "This must end soon," Harry vowed to himself.

_____

Author's Note: A special thanks goes out to the Harry Potter Lexicon. I reference the site any time I need factual help. I drew heavily from them for the names of many of the characters above. This chapter is dedicated to Google Maps, which helped me pick some great geographical names.

Author's Recognition: When I first wrote this chapter, it was bad. My betas have been infinitely valuable. I would like to thank Lady Alchymia, Ivan, Susan, Myles, and Tim Joy (Jeconais) who all saw the chapter in its various states and were kind enough to give me valuable feedback. Thanks all.