Begin to Hope

What if Voldemort hadn't killed Harry Potter?

That's the first question I ask myself every morning when I wake up.

What if Harry had won the final fight? How different would life be? First off, my family and everyone close to me would still be alive and well. I wouldn't have to live in hiding and go out in secret and disguise. All my friends would still be talking to me, and I wouldn't be in the terrible mess I'm in now...

There is, of course, much more to this story. Let's start at the very beginning.

Harry Potter tracked down Voldemort on December 9th, 1997 in a small town right outside of London. They fought for hours, but when it finally came down to it, Voldemort fought... and won.

And from that point on, Voldemort was unstoppable.

On December 25th, 1997, he led the grisly Ministry Massacre, which killed almost all of the people working in the Ministry. The rest went into hiding.

In January 1998, he invaded Hogwarts and took captive or killed most of the non-pureblood students. Hogwarts was closed permanently after that, and the building still stands in its spot, neglected and idle.

After that, Voldemort just kept gathering followers, and everyone was too scared to try and to stop him.

With Albus Dumbledore, the only one he ever feared, and Harry Potter, his prophesied rival, both dead, no one had the courage to stand up to him.

All members of the wizarding world feared for their lives. Stories were told of the unlucky ones that had been caught and tortured for information and killed if they didn't disclose anything... or worse, they were forced to join Voldemort's ranks.

It was, perhaps, everyone's greatest fear. If Voldemort called upon you to enlist, it would mean giving up everything you had and devoting your life to his service, or death. But death seemed a welcome alternative to working under such a cruel dictator.

My parents, Luna and Colin, were killed valiantly two years ago in a fight with several Death Eaters. The thought of them being gone used to make me bawl like there was no tomorrow, but I realized it was better that they were in heaven, rather than down here in hell living in fear and secrecy from Voldemort.

My younger brother, Humphrey, on the other hand, is still in mourning. He was a quiet boy even before they were killed, but now he's downright unsociable, and there's nothing I can do to cheer him up.

Upon finding us orphaned, Hermione Weasley started her "Witchcraft Underground School for Students," which all of the students who attend it fondly call it "wuss". She knew we hadn't anywhere else to turn, and she wanted to give us one last lingering hope to the magical world, that maybe one day Voldemort would be overcome.

The school is located right outside of Bristol, England. It's a small, shabby building on the outside, built to look like a dirty one story ranch-style house, but the inside is like a mansion. The entire building, other than the entrance room, is located underground. It's got dozens upon dozens of curses and spells upon it for protection, and like Hogwarts once was, it's Unplottable, which makes it unlocatable for anyone who doesn't know its exact location or what it's there for.

Hermione Weasley, as I said before, is the Headmistress, and she teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts and Potions. She's married to Ronald Weasley. As it turns out, Hermione and Ron were with Harry until the end, but Ron only managed to escape within an inch of his life. Because of this, he is paralyzed from the waist down and will be wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.

Minerva McGonagall, Hermione's oldest teacher and mentor, still works with her as the Transfiguration teacher and Deputy Headmistress, although she isn't there all the time; she works as part of the New Order as well and is always busy, running around trying to keep everything under wraps.

There are only a few teachers working here. Not many people are willing to risk their lives to teach a few measly students simple magic.

The day everything changed for the worse was May 27th, 2017. It was my birthday, and I was turning sixteen. I was actually kind of excited for once; nothing horrible had happened in quite a while, and we were all enjoying the silence, not knowing how horrible things were going to end.

I had spent most the day getting ready for my small "party," including curling my hair and putting on some light makeup. I usually didn't get dressed up, or even care about my appearance, but today... I felt different. I felt like something was about to happen, something important, and I had better look my best.

I was checking out my reflection in the full-size mirror in my bedroom when I heard my name being called from behind. "KERRY!"

Klaus jumped on my back from behind, knocking us both to the floor. He started laughing uncontrollably, and I pushed him off of me, grinning only because he's an idiot.

"Klaus, what was that for?" I rubbed my back and sat on my knees, facing him. He adjusted his glasses, as they had nearly fallen off his face, and looked at me happily.

"Happy birthday!"

I shook my head, smiling at him. "Thanks, Klaus."

Klaus Weasley is my best friend in the entire world. Son of Ron and Hermione, he's dumb enough to know better but smart enough not to care. He has a great sense of humor and can always make me laugh.

"No prob." He stood up and leaned back down to give me a hand. I took his hand, and he pulled me up to my feet. I turned around in circles, trying to dust myself off.

"You have a piece of yarn on your ass." He motioned for me to turn around, which I did, and he reached down and smacked my butt.

"Klaus!" I cried teasingly.

He shrugged. "Couldn't help it," he said with a smile.

"Come on, you little lovebirds," Farley Lupin stuck his head in my room and looked at us. "You're holding up your own birthday party!" He scowled slightly, playing his part of taking care of the younger kids, namely us. His father, Remus Lupin, used to be in charge of keeping order around the school, but he was captured, tortured, and killed in 1999, and when Farley became old enough, he took the responsibility upon himself. Farley's mother, Nymphadora, is still alive, but she doesn't work at the school. She travels around Europe, working with Flitwick and trying to get people to join the New Order, but without much luck.

I thanked him and he left. I turned back to Klaus, who was whistling and twiddling his thumbs as if nothing had happened. I giggled.

"We're not lovebirds, are we?" I asked, casually, smoothing out the hem of my party dress.

"No, of course not. We're more like... fat ostriches." He patted my head and led the way out of the room. "Come on, Kerry, we shan't be late now, shall we?"

"No, we shan't." I followed him out of the room. We really weren't lovebirds. Sure, we were best friends, but there was no weird "sexual tension" between us or anything. We just liked each other as friends and nothing more.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" everyone cried as I made my way down the steps into the basement. I looked around the room. Balloons and streamers covered every available wall, and confetti had been enchanted to fall from the ceiling every so often. And everything was decorated in my two favorite colors, pink and green.

"Thanks, guys!" I cheered over the loud pulsing music of the Wireless. I saw Farley and Annabelle dancing in the corner of the room while Klaus was teasing Princeton and Greg on the other side of the room. Kimberly was getting some punch from the food table with Maverick, and Tally, Humphrey, and Penelope were all conversing together. They greeted me as I made my way towards them.

"Where are the teachers?" I asked them as I strode up to them.

"Gone," Penelope answered simply.

"What do you mean, 'gone'?"

Tally rolled her eyes at Penelope. "They're all upstairs. Some sort of secret meeting for the New Order, or something," She took a sip of her drink, holding her pinky straight up in the air as she did, the sign of a sophisticated girl who knew what she was talking about. The daughter of Viktor and Erica Krum, she's only thirteen, but she's a girl who knows what she's after in life. Her mother died in childbirth, but her father hangs around the school a lot and is always there for her. She's a spoilt little thing and a daddy's girl.

"Something new come up?" I asked. "On my birthday?"

Tally shook her head, her long blonde hair falling into her eyes. "They won't tell us. I tried to interrogate them all when Tonks came back today, but she wouldn't tell me a thing,"

I gritted my teeth. All eleven of us hated being kept out of the loop. Sometimes the teachers and adults wouldn't tell us anything, even though we all thought it was best if we were in the know. We needed to know what was happening, so we could prepare ourselves. Right?

Kimberly pulled me away from Tally and started to chatter away about something she had read recently. Kimberly Finnegan is fifteen as well, daughter of Seamus and Cho Finnegan. Ever since their deaths in 2010 and 2014, respectively, she's gotten quiet, although she hasn't completely retreated into a shell, as Humphrey has. We're pretty close.

"Princeton, come now, what are you doing?" Annabelle yelled at the youngest of our group as he came flying down the stairs and traipsed around the room in a maroon dress. I turned to find Maverick and Greg laughing in a corner.

"Apparently Maverick bet Princeton three Galleons he wouldn't come to the party in that dress," Klaus sidled up to me and muttered under his breath.

"I'm amazed they got him to do it," I replied. But then again, maybe I shouldn't have been amazed. It was, after all, Maverick Weasley we were talking about. Maverick Weasley, son of Fred and Frederica Weasley, and mischief maker extraordinare. He's the spitting image of his father, and another one of my good friends.

"You have to admit that it's pretty funny." We watched as Annabelle tried to catch Princeton as he ran around the room, singing the song on the Wireless at the top of his lungs. Annabelle, daughter of Bill and Fleur, thinks she's so high and mighty just because she's seventeen and oldest girl. She's always trying to act prim and proper and reprimand all of us when we misbehave, but for the most part we ignore her.

I laughed and Klaus smiled at me, standing up straight.

"Care to dance?" he asked as the current song changed to a slower one and Annabelle finally caught Princeton and tore the dress off him, demanding he change into something more suitable.

"Sure..." We made our way out onto the dance floor, which for our purposes was just the other side of the room. I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned my head on his shoulder while he wrapped his arms around my waist and held me close to him.

We swayed back and forth to the music slowly. I closed my eyes and just stood there in his arms. I could feel the rest of the room's eyes upon us.

That's when it all went to hell.

"Everyone -- HIDE!" McGonagall came flying down the steps leading to the basement like a bat out of hell.

"They've found us!" Her hair was flying away from underneath her hat, a startling difference from the tight bun she almost always wore in it. "Quick hide!" She grabbed the two youngest, Penelope and Princeton, and ran towards the back of the room.

"What--what's happening?" I cried, jumping out of Klaus' arms and looking to McGonagall for directions.

"You-Know-Who!" she whispered. "He's found us!"

Klaus and I exchanged glances and ran toward the back window, which was enchanted to look like a real window, despite the fact that we were situated several hundred feet underground. If one was to push on it, it would flip up, revealing a secret underground passageway that, after a few miles, led up, outside of Bristol, to the middle of a neglected farm near an old willow tree.

I motioned to the rest of the kids. "Follow us, guys!"

Klaus leapt through the window and helped me through, then he reached out a hand to help the rest of them. Maverick jumped through, ignoring Klaus's outstretched hands, and jumped away from the window as if it were on fire. He started to run down the passageway.

"Don't go too far, Maverick!" I called as his footsteps became farther and farther away.

Greg and Humphrey were next, coming in through the window as fast as they could. Then I helped them stand up, and I showed them where to go. "Get going that way!" I pointed toward the passageway, which was very dark and led straight down for as far at the eye could see.

Annabelle lifted up Penelope and Tally before climbing up herself. They all fell into a heap right inside the window, clumping up and holding onto each other and crying hysterically.

"Guys, don't cry!" I tried to comfort them as Klaus helped Princeton and Farley up through the window. "Shh, it's okay, but you need to be quiet before they find us here!" That shut them up rather quickly. They all cuddled together, still weeping silently.

Farley used his strong arms to close the window and lock it tightly from our side. "That should keep them out," he whispered to Klaus and me.

"Let me in, let me in too!" A loud banging could be heard from the other side of the window.

"Shit! McGonagall!" Klaus slapped his forehead with his hand and knelt back down beside the window to unlock it, but Farley pushed his hands out of the way.

"Listen!" Farley cried.

And then we could all hear it: the sounds of footsteps coming down the basement steps.

"Ah, ha!" We heard someone cry, presumably a Death Eater.

"Minerva, how nice to see you... " a sly voice said.

"H-hello." Her voice shook slightly as she spoke. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Where are the children?" the first voice spoke again.

"Children? What children?" Her voice gained some strength, and she moved away from the window leading to us.

"Don't play stupid with us, wench!" the second voice rasped. "We know they were here just moments ago. Where've they gone?"

"I don't--I don't know what you're talking about--there are no-no children here..." Her voice lowered and faltered as she spoke, and Klaus and I glanced at each other quickly. We thought we knew what would happen next.

"Dispose of her," the second voice rasped before heading back up the stairs.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Through the crack of the window, we saw a flash of green light and heard the sound of a body falling to the ground hard.

The first Death Eater cackled a few times before spitting like a savage and heading back up the stairs.

We all sat, holding our breath in silence for a few moments, while we heard the rest of the Death Eaters rampaging around upstairs, looking for us and other things to destroy.

When the sounds finally quieted down up there, we all let out our breath and turned to face each other. The looks on everyone else's faces were mixtures of horror and fright that I'll never forget, but Penelope, with a tear-streaked face, summed it up best:

"What are we going to do?"