Under the Shadow

Chapter 1

Smoke and Ashes

you didn't see the signs written by a cruel hand

the Dark Lord's power rising from the murky dark

now falls the shadow far upon the land

It's just an illusion that the good side will win in the end without having to pay its price. It's an illusion that it will be victorious, that the sacrifices haven't been in vain and that an unknown power will set the things straight that we couldn't do on our own. What is it that makes us so certain that the sun will rise again over the horizon next morning, not leaving us forever in our night of distress? Maybe this metaphor is not very good; it stems from the Muggle World, where you have rules and natural laws and there is no place for a sun not rising ... but this is a report from the Wizarding World, and the element of chaos always has run stronger there. There is a world deep inside every humans heart, muggle and wizard alike, where such certainties never had a meaning. So, then there remains only hope, small and frail against the spreading darkness. If this hope has any value, how much we will have to pay for making it reality?

Maybe that lanky boy with black, untidy hair had had such thoughts often during the last weeks, but now all his senses are focused on surviving the next few minutes whilst rushing through the undergrowth. Everyone belonging to the Wizarding World knows his name: Harry Potter.

Harry Potter, the boy who lives. But for how long? Harry Potter, daring enough to withstand Lord Voldemort together with his friends. But now many of them are dead, lost, in the hands of the enemy. Harry Potter, his courage a shining model for those wizards and witches who chose to stand on the light side against the shadow. But now all courage has left his mind and there is only panic, fear and despair to see in his eyes.

Behind him, at the far shore of the lake, the burning silhouette of Hogwarts rises against the clouded night sky. He can hear the roaring crackle of the flames, reaching high into the darkness and trying to pull it down onto the earth. The border of the Forbidden Forest isn't a place of safety when a group of Death Eaters and the sinister presence of Voldemort himself are on your heels. But Aragog and his brood have left, feeding now on a group of fleeing students. Giants are throwing great boulders against the ancient walls, and now and then you can see a big scaly thing strike down from above.

If we take a closer look, it becomes clear that it became like this many years ago and it would have needed more than the few courageous members of the Order of the Phoenix to stop the way things went. Harry Potter, who was he? If he had once had the power to withstand Lord Voldemort, than there was nothing left now. He was not invulnerable like a superhero - although some of his friends who trusted in him saw him exactly like that. And something in him has anticipated that, and reacted to the signs foreboding Lord Voldemorts rise to power. During his sixth year a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry his scar has paled more and more, his former shield against Voldemort finally only a dream of the past. He had been alone too long, shut himself away from the others. He wanted to do it all alone, and so he had to fail.

That last year lay under a grey veil, making visible only some small things - there was a new teacher for Defence against the Dark Arts and his classes were not remarkable, but not bad. Dumbledore's main priority had been not to employ such simpletons like Gilderoy Lockhart or incarnations of the Dark Lord himself, like Quirrel. Then there was Harry himself: he hadn't made his O.W.L's necessary for his career as an Auror and so that term was nearly eventless, without Harry really participating in anything. His marks still got worse, he missed the Snitch twice in a Quidditch match, and he ignored his friends trying to lead him back into life. Finally there was the fact, that Hermione's feel of affection, always smouldering under the surface, became more than that, and on the first day of seventh term she declared him her love. He had denied it briskly and made her go away, he didn't know how to react, and his fears of the last battle had grown so much that he wasn't able to think of anything else.

Out in the Wizarding World the Ministry was torn apart by internal struggles for power, eventuating in the murder of Cornelius Fudge by Death Eaters in January. There was some public indignation about the deed, but not so much as you could have expected. Some people ducked in fear, others secretly sympathized with the Death Eaters and their goals. These are situations when emotions can be stronger than common sense, and so the newly elected Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, acted decidedly against the growing threat of the Death Eaters and reactivated the Board of Inquisition. No one thought honestly about giving back Dolores Umbridge her job, but there was a young ambitious man of brutal resoluteness, easily controlled by compliments, flattery, and complete obedience: Percy Weasley. Under his leadership and the public pressure, the Board of Inquisition soon became a feared, secret group, suspecting Death Eaters and their spies everywhere. They arrested at random where people dared to criticize its procedure, and finally they began to torture and to execute without any thought, when the attacks of the Death Eaters became more common.

Yes, you could say that the Second War had already begun, although it was still mainly guerilla warfare, and the open, decisive clash had not occurred until then. At the end of the sixth term the new teacher of Defence against the Dark Arts was taken away by members of the Board of Inquisition, even with the protests of Dumbledore, and he was never seen again. So that infamous tradition of teachers of DADA never staying more than one year at Hogwarts was continued. Many students stayed at Hogwarts during the summer holidays because their parents saw it as a secure haven from the commotion of the outside world. It was one of the many mistakes made these days, but there was no real alternative. Nevertheless, people should have been startled at the fact that most of the students who left Hogwarts in the summer holidays were Slytherins - and only a very few came back at the beginning of the seventh year. Their parents, mostly Death Eaters or their fellow-travellers, knew what would happen. Voldemort planned to attack these ancient walls which held more powerful and implacable enemies than the Ministry. The moment when Hogwarts would have fallen and Dumbledore and Harry would have died, there would be no more resistance be left.

Two days after the beginning of the seventh year, and Hogwarts without real lessons, just a haven against the uprising war, the Board of Inquisition declared the old school "a hoard of evil". Maybe there was word of former students of Slytherin or the statement of the Defence teacher he made under torture that led to that decision. The Board called for self-liquidation and the surrender of Dumbledore and McGonagall and the other teachers into the hands of the Ministry. Needless to say that Dumbledore didn't agree, renewed the magical walls around Hogwarts and waited with his trusted friends. One of them now was Remus Lupin whom Dumbledore let come at the very last moment - and without permission of the Educational Board - back to Hogwarts as the new teacher for Defence against the Dark Arts. He was also needed as an important member of the Order, and so it was left to Moody and Shacklebolt alone to hold it together, to take charge of the wizarding community so it did not to fall completely into anarchy. They had to struggle against the Ministry, too, being put on its ever growing list of unwanted, dangerous persons.

During these days a feeling spread in Hogwarts that there was something wrong, really wrong, around students and teachers alike. It shouldn't have come very surprisingly after the excommunication by the Ministry and the never-fading threat of the Death-Eaters, but there was something deeper in that; all the things seemed to be of a fundamental wrongness, be it Peeves haunting the corridors, Snape snapping at students in the entrance-hall, Dumbledore trying to infuse courage to the students in the Great Hall. These moments always were short, never more than strange phantasms, but gradually there were more and more of them to see and feel.

Two weeks later the whole situation culminated when a small army of the Ministry arrived in front of Hogwarts and began the siege of the castle. For four days the spells bounced off from the invisible barriers, and then the final disaster happened inside the castles walls. A mighty eruption shot through the astronomy tower, its origin unknown. Some teachers went in and saw that no matter, living or dead, remained; only the bare stone walls stood and the memories of better days written within. It was not only Trelawney and some students who were lost - no, some people had seen Dumbledore nearby and then he was gone, too. They began searching for him, without any success. The headmaster remained missing. Some teachers began a dispute about surrendering the school to the Ministry with all its students, but finally they decided against that suggestion, because it became clear, that there wasn't more to be expected in the hands of Percy's Inquisition than in the claws of the Death Eaters. The eruption in the tower and the four-day long siege had weakened the magical walls, and now, with Dumbledore gone, panic and chaos were imminent. Unity broke apart, and in the second hour after midnight the barriers finally fell, under a heavy clouded sky.

Yes, and under the same sky is Hogwarts burning now, brightly against the clouds, and Harry tries to escape into the depths of the Forbidden Forest, ranks and thorns clutching at him, and the presence of Voldemort coming closer every moment. This has been Voldemorts plan: although he had a lot of evil magical creatures following him, there weren't enough Death Eaters he could dispense with to tear down the walls of Hogwarts with their help. So he used the Ministry to do the dirty work, and then he ambushed them from behind. In the end he had not only captured Hogwarts without much resistance, but he was also able to eliminate most of the elite troops of the Ministry.

Now Harry hears the voice of Voldemort in his head, close by, "Stop it. Give in to me! It's all gone, and you will end like everyone else!" He expects every moment to feel an icy hand like a demon's claw gripping his shoulder, and the scenes of the last hours that are shooting through his mind, all seem to be a confirmation of Voldemorts words. Fleeing students, burnt up by dragon's breath, Professor McGonagall, gripped at her feet by a troll and her head smashed in against a stone wall, Ron, nearly mad and writhing in pain after being tortured by Death Eaters. There are a lot more of these scenes we could describe, but these will suffice now to understand the despair and the hopelessness Harry feels. To understand his wish just to lie down forever and leave it all behind, what began with that fateful day when a huge hairy guy came to him on a remote island on a flying motorcycle to explain to him his connection to the wizarding world.

Harry knows that he can't run away any longer now. This is the moment he has to face, and so he scrambles up and turns around. He even has the courage to go back one, two steps from where he came. It's only the courage to face his fate without downcast eyes, but the strength to fight has gone from him. This time is over.

Voldemort advances towards him. His cold snake eyes are glowing red in his ash grey, distorted face. Look at him! Feel his power! Tremble at his spite! Everything and more his ominous aura is radiating; even the plants seem to wither before him. "So we are meeting again, are we? You have annoyed me long enough, but now it is over."

"I ... I ..."

Voldemort knows that it can foil your plans when you begin lengthy disputes with your victim. With rising horror we watch Voldemort how he takes out his wand, aiming with it at Harry, and then he speaks the spell. A disgusting green light shoots forth from its top, engulfing Harry screaming without a sound, and then he is gone.

Our hope.

Our shining light.

And the shadow falls upon the land, taking hold on it forever..