The Beginning of the End

Chapter Two: Impact

To some, it seemed like morning would never come. They were afraid of the darkness, afraid of the deaths, and mostly, afraid of the Dark Lord's return. But if there is night, there will of course be morning following it. When morning came, England was bathed in the warm sunlight. It seemed like last night never occurred and it was all some horrible nightmare caused by eating too many sweets before going to bed.

At first, the Muggles of England remained completely oblivious to the happenings of last night. They did their daily morning routines: brushed their teeth, took a shower, groomed themselves, and went to eat breakfast. But when they went to get their morning newspaper, they were greeted with a most gruesome newspaper heading.

"THOUSANDS DEAD" -- the London Times wrote in a big black font.

"MASS MURDER THROUGHOUT ENGLAND LAST NIGHT" -- the British News featured.

"RETURN OF THE PLAGUE?" -- England Post questioned, although they were quite off.

Immediately, thousands of thoughts raced through the Muggles' minds. "PANIC!" was a popular one, as was "What are the newspapers playing at?" The extremely skeptical ones threw away the newspaper, writing it off as one big joke. The skeptics then proceeded to walk over to their neighbor's house, eager to discuss this new propaganda scheme with their neighbors. But when most of them reached their neighbor's house, they saw Death surrounding it, and then they were made a believer.

Quite suddenly, the number one thought on the Muggles' minds was "PANIC!"

----------

The wizarding world was not uninformed about the events either. The Daily Prophet had a full article on it:

"Last night, a mark was fired into the sky many times. Although we do not have proof if it was indeed the Dark Mark, many witches and wizards spotted a green mark slowly fading in the sky when they woke up this morning. It can only be the Dark Mark. You-Know-Who's back and this time, he's stronger than ever. As a welcome back gift, the Death Eaters murdered countless Muggles...Continued on A-2"

Albus Dumbledore stared at the newspaper silently before sliding it under his arm. He then looked up at the other professors in the room.

"It appears Voldemort is back."

"What--what shall we do, Albus?" stuttered Professor McGonagall. She bit her lip and glanced fearfully out the window, as if expecting the Dark Lord himself to appear any second. "The students will be hysterical."

Professor Flitwick nodded in agreement, his shock of white hair falling on his forehead. "We cannot teach the students in this situation. But if we send them home, something awful might happen to them as well."

Dumbledore thought about the current situation for a minute. If he were to send them home, the students -might- be safe, but then again, they might not, thinking about all the muggle-born students at the school. But if he kept them here, what could honestly be done? Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick were correct--the students won't accomplish by sitting around idle for who knows how long. He thought long and hard about the pros and cons.

"I think we should keep the students here to continue with their lessons," he finally decided. "I shall send owls to all the parents to inform them of my decision."

"But what about those who wish their child to return?" spoke up Professor Snape, thinking of some of the Slytherins. "Those parents who are associated with Voldemort?"

"I will not make exceptions for -any- student."

"And what about those... those..." Professor McGonagall stopped, choking momentarily on the words. "Those with parents who were killed?" She held up fifty centimeter list of names shakily.

The room grew silent for a second before Professor Snape gingerly took the list from Professor McGonagall's hands.

"Susanne Andros, David Elinshon, Seamus Finnigan, Hermione Granger, Antoine Iciko, Harry Potter. Jim Quenin, Dean Thomas, Patty Veldonik," he read outloud, skipping plenty of names in between.

"Should we tell them?" asked Professer Sprout, wringing her hands.

Dumbledore nodded. "I believe we should."

"What about the newspaper?"

He sighed. "The students should be eating breakfast about now. The post should have arrived already." He turned to Professor McGonagall. "Can you please tell the students not to go anywhere after breakfast? I will be there in a bit." She nodded and walked out of the room.

--------

"The post's here," announced Ron Weasley through his eggs and bacons.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Hermione Granger admonished him gently. "It's rude." She looked up at the Great Hall, which at that moment didn't look great with all the birds. She held out a hand and an owl dropped the newspaper in her open palm.

"Okay, fine, fine," Ron said, pushing away his now empty plate. "So what does the Daily Prophet have for us today?"

Hermione glanced down at the newspaper. "Oh, just that Muggles..." She trailed off. She stared at the newspaper uncomprehendingly.

"What, 'Mione?" asked Harry, looking at her. "Muggles what?"

Hermione didn't say a thing. Instead, she pointed at the heading with a shaking finger. Harry and Ron leaned over and their eyes widened simultaneously.

Interestingly enough, Harry's first thought wasn't that of the Dursleys, but of Hermione's parents. He couldn't digest the information in front of him. How could this happen? Why did this happen? A million thoughts were running through his head.

Ron, however, did not think about what was happening. He instantly took one of the girl's hands into his own and said, "Maybe your parents are still alive and You-Know-Who's supporters missed them."

She was silent.

"Well, of course they missed them, 'Mione! I mean, they aren't very prominent Muggles, right? He might have killed," she flinched at his words and after quickly revising them, he continued, "erm.. gotten rid of the important ones."

Harry joined in. "Yea, don't worry about it, 'Mione." He smiled reassuringly. "There's a lot of people in England. What are the chances of them even -finding- your parents? Why, not very much!"

The girl was still silent. Her eyes were moist with unspilled tears. Harry and Ron turned to each other, uncertain of what to say to make their friend feel better.

"Don't cry, Hermione," whispered Ron. "Please don't cry."

"I'm sure Dumbledore will tell us this is just some joke," added Harry, taking the girl's other hand in one of his. "Maybe it's just Rita Skeeter again, I bet she's causing trouble."

Seamus Finnigan turned towards the three friends and was startled to find them holding Hermione's hands. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Did you see the Daily Prophet?" asked Ron.

He shook his head and reached for his own newspaper. Seconds later, he dropped it on his soup. Heads turned their way at the loud splatter. Seamus seemed frozen in his seat.

"Oh, my God," he whispered loudly. "This can't be true."

Curious, the other students stole a look at the Daily Prophet in his soup. There was silence at the Gryffindor table for a solid three minutes. Without the loud chattering from the large table, the Great Hall was silent. The other tables turned to look at the quiet table.

"Well, what is it?" Draco Malfoy spoke up. "Why is everyone so quiet?"

At his voice, Hermione shook herself and became conscious of the stares directed at her table. Harry and Ron let go of her hands and she stood up, looking at Draco in the eye. "You."

"Me?" he asked. He stared back at her, his lips a thin line on his face.

"Your father. He did this to my family," she accused hoarsely, pointing a finger at him. "He did it. I just know it. You can try to cover up for him all you want, but I -know- he did it." With each word, her voice became stronger, harsher.

"What are you talking about, Granger?" snapped Draco.

The entire room was silent except for the two voices.

"Read the newspaper."

Without tearing his eyes away from hers, he reached out for the newspaper. " 'Attempt at Muggle Genocide'," he read outloud, still looking at her from the corner of his silver eyes. He then threw the newspaper on the ground with great force. "Why do you immediately suspect my father of doing anything of this sort? He wouldn't want to touch any Muggles, nevertheless the blood of a Muggle." He wasn't loud, but his words held power in them.

Her lips quivered as she fought back tears. "Why should I not suspect him? Why do you constantly stick up for him when you know I'm right?"

Ron moved to stand up, but Harry held an arm in front of him. "No, this is Hermione's fight." Ron opened his mouth to protest, but Harry shook his head. "This doesn't involve us." The other boy reluctantly agreed.

"Because you have no right to accuse him," Draco replied simply.

Hermione smirked slightly. "It would be the same as accusing you, wouldn't it? This is pointless. I don't understand what I'm trying to gain from arguing this with you. It's like knowing you're a Death Eater and you keep denying that you aren't."

The other students leaned forward in their seats. Never before had Draco Malfoy been accused of being a Death Eater. Never had anyone stood up to challenge him. Not until today. They waited for his response.

Draco didn't say anything, though. Instead, he held his arms up and pulled back the robe sleeves from his right arm, rotating it 180 degrees both clockwise and counter clockwise. It was unblemished. Then, he did the same with his left arm, revealing his perfect pale skin.

Hermione raised a slim eyebrow at him, an unreadable expression on her face. She then sat back down. Draco sat down as well and crossed his arms.

At that moment, Professor McGonagall entered the noiseless room. With each step, her shoes made a loud 'click' noise. She looked sadly at the students before she conjured up her emotionless mask. "I am certain that you have all read the article. Professor Dumbledore has a very important announcement to make. He will be here soon." She sat down in her seat in the front of the hall.

Hermione returned back to her unstable state and leaned against the two boys for support rather than the chair. This time, her tears were flowing freely and she was making no move to hide them. Ron and Harry both knew not to say anything right now because it would be fruitless, so they just let her learn on them.

On the other side of the room, Draco was leaning against his cushioned chair. The other Slytherins left him out of their conversations. It may seem like they were being cold to him, but only they knew better. The Slytherins had an understanding of each other; they knew when to talk to one of their members and knew when to leave the member alone. They knew what every single member of the house liked to do when he or she was frustrated about something and they did it. Whether the member liked peace and quiet or liked to be talked to, they did it. They knew Draco liked to be left alone and so, they left him alone.

Dumbledore stepped into the room and walked quickly to the front. He stood up near Professor McGonagall.

"This is a very unfortunate event. Voldemort is back and I'm afraid he's stronger than ever. Before you say anything though, I wish to tell you that you are -all- staying at Hogwarts. You are still students at this school and I trust you to be as studious as ever. With that said, I have to inform some of you with terrible news. Those names I call out please come forward. If I do not call out your name, please return to your house dormitories," Dumbledore stated. He pulled out the list of names and began to call them, starting with Annie Abeck and ending with Robert Zuinch.

After students who weren't called all exited, Dumbledore looked at the remaining students in front of him with sad eyes.

"I wish I was not the one to break the news to you, but I must. You -have- to know. Your parents and guardians are dead," he said softly.

There were gasps and many students began to weep. Professor McGonagall turned away from the sight--she didn't want any of the students to see her own tears. Most students began to cling to their friends and hugging each other tightly, tears streaming down their faces. Hermione sobbed loudly and Harry held her closely, trying to soothe her.

"My...my parents," she sobbed onto his shoulders. "I... I can't believe this. Oh, Merlin, Harry!"

"There, there," he mumbled, rubbing her back. He then looked at Dumbledore with his clear verdant eyes. "You are saying.. that the Dursleys are dead?"

Dumbledore nodded.

"But...how? I thought that it was safe there," Harry said, still holding onto Hermione.

"I thought so too. I never thought that Voldemort would go so far as to killing innocent Muggles. I never suspected..."

"Is that why you placed me with them?"

"Yes. I thought he would never find you with Muggles..."

"But if he wanted to find me, he could've?"

"Yes. There is no spell to put an anti-magic force field around anything Muggle-made. I've tried to find something, I've tried, Harry." Dumbledore's face fell. "But I couldn't find a single thing. But surely you didn't suspect that it was anti-magic, now did you?"

Harry thought about it for a moment. He remembered the Weasleys picking him up in their magicked car in second year and about the magic that Dobby had performed in house. And he remembered that the Weasleys had used Floo powder in fourth year... He also remembered his own misuse of magic, such as blowing up his Aunt Marge...

"I thought you had, but now that I think about it, no. Now it makes perfect sense," Harry answered.

Dumbledore smiled a bit before talking to the other students.

"Harry?"

He let go of Hermione and she looked at his brilliant green eyes. "Are you crying?" she asked, sniffling.

Harry blinked reached his hand up to his face. He was surprised to find that he was indeed crying.

"I thought you didn't like them," Hermione said, now rubbing her puffy eyes.

"I do--didn't. I think I'm not crying for -them-, though. I think it's because they were people who lost their lives to Voldemort. It doesn't matter that I didn't like them much, but they were still -people-. Living, breathing, and feeling things," he responded softly.

Hermione nodded in understanding. "We should get back to Ron and tell him what happened." She started sauntering out of the Great Hall.

Harry followed, but he stopped and looked back at the other students who were still sobbing pitifully. Voldemort and his Death Eaters ruined their lives. He spotted a first year who was crying her eyes out. He looked at Seamus who looked like he was trying to hold back his tears, but failing miserably. He ruined all their lives, and for what? For some fun! He thought about Hermione's reckless sobbing and how most of these students would now be orphans. He became mad. Harry Potter made a promise right then. He promised himself that he will help with Voldemort's downfall and won't die or rest in peace until the Dark Lord is dead.

-----------

Draco stood near the Great Hall. He was never one to follow rules, even though he was Head Boy. It was dark and isolated, and if someone where to pass by, they would never see him standing there. He pressed his ear against the door, struggling to hear something. Suddenly, the door opened and the Head Girl herself, Hermione, came out. She looked at him with her puffy eyes.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, her voice cracking.

"Nothing," he said.

"You want to know what's going on, don't you?"

He didn't answer.

"I'll tell you, then." She walked close to him and stood on her tip-toes, so that her mouth reached his ears. Then she whispered softly, "My--their parents are dead. Are you happy now? Is that what you want to hear?" She leaned closer, so that her lips were almost touching his skin. "You should be very happy indeed, Death Eater." She turned and walked away.

Draco stayed in the same spot, carefully thinking about what she had said. A couple of seconds later, he walked away as well.