I always wanted to write something on the Harry Potter theme, so this is it. No need to explain the setting, just read on.
The world was a darkened place in those days... Truly a marvel of pure horror had taken the Muggle and the Magic world by the throat with its chilling and deadly grip, determined to never to let go of it again. It had been seven years since that day... The day that Wizards and Muggles marked as the day their society helplessly crumbled onto its knees, without even having a chance to beg for mercy at His feet. No creature was in ever more danger that it has been in those last seven years... Everyone and everything, from the elves and goblins to the giants and wizards, had not tasted peace and tranquility since. Not a single ray of sunshine was brave enough to shine onto the world, fearing that it too may be haunted and decimated by those who ruled it with cruel and unjust hands. The Ministry of Magic was eviscerated a few hours after the death of the one they called “The Chosen One”. There was no more Minister and no more Aurors, as Lord Voldemort took liberty in giving them the pleasures of grisly torture and then death. Some that were in the Order of Phoenix tried to resist, while some tried to flee and hide away, driven to abandon their friends by the overwhelming fear. Those that tried to resist were dealt with extreme pitilessness and inhuman mercilessness. They were tortured for most hours in a day, only reason being that Voldermort had ordered so, and were not granted death until they were ready to kiss His feet and beg for it. Those who decided to flee were caught and dealt with no less forgiveness to reflect the real horror of the Dark Lord's Reign over the world. Today it was seven years since the world had been fragmented by the sinister evil of the Dark Lord, seven years since the “Boy Who Lived” had lived no more, slain by the same wand that had slain everyone close to him... But like all the wizards say, seven is a magical number...
A very old and feeble looking man was standing on top of a cliff that was over a hundred yards in height. Below the cliff there was a sea that was raging and storming almost every single night, as if it couldn't sleep without having nightmares. It seemed like even the nature reflected the terrors of Dark Lord's seven year reign. The old man was seemingly a wizard, with a short stature and a very wrinkled old face. His robes were plainly gray so that people wouldn't pay too much attention to him. He was standing on top of the cliff alone, completely in darkness that was only lit up by a light of the thunder that raged over the sea. The enraged thunder reminded him how exactly he felt about the Dark Lord's reign, giving just a little more strength to keep going in his search. He was holding a broom in one hand and drawing out a wand with the other, while looking up to the sky that was filled with the heaviest clouds ever known to show themselves in the last seven dreadful years.
“Lumos...” The short man barely whimpered onto his wand, as if afraid of being discovered, although there was any living anywhere nearby. His wand responded to his whimper and lit up, shining away some light into the never-ending darkness that surrounded him, along with the world.
“Mhm, must be here...” He muttered to himself, while looking down onto the sea below. He hopped onto his broom and flew from the cliff, lowering himself slowly while increasing the light in his wand to shine onto the mountain cliffs. He kept lowering himself little by little, until he spotted a small opening that had almost escaped his vision it it wasn't for the thunder giving him a clear view of the whole cliff for a few life-mattering moments. He pointed the end of his Comet two-sixty and towards the opening and cautiously flew his way inside.
The frail looking man got off the broom and scratched his bald head, while letting his tired eyes run around the cave. His whole body was exhausted from sleepless nights and days that he spent in the search of the cave that he was standing in right at that moment. He took a deep breath full of cautious fear for the unknown things that lay inside, and after leaving the broom at the entrance he started walking deeper in. The light from his wand was now bleak, barely able to light a few feet ahead, from the weariness of it's master.
As he continued to cautiously walk through the narrow corridor, his facial features became more clear in the light of his wand. What once used to be a self-assured and determined face was now a cautious expression with some fear in its eyes. The wrinkles became much heavier and his eyes had obvious signs of long absence of proper sleep. It seemed that the devastation that had fallen upon the world could damper even the former Minister of Magic.
He continued to walk on his short and worn out legs, until the light fell onto an widening. A flicker of excitement had passed through his elder eyes, and a tiny ray of hope shined into his heart. He walked into the opening to find himself in a middle of what seemed like someone's house. He was standing inside the wide, circular room that had a table cloth a a few wooden chairs. Around the room there were a few plush chairs, some open shelves and a few closets with magical contents placed on them. The man could see two more rooms on opposite sides of the middle one. He saw plenty cauldrons in the room on the left and by the mixture of unpleasant smells it seemed like someone was cooking up potions not too long ago. The room on the right had a curtain drawn over it, but he could notice bed legs sticking out from underneath. The man took a few more steps towards the table in the middle, dropping his guard and not realizing that someone was practically breathing down his neck.
The man took a few steps forward, keeping his wand up to shine the light onto the surrounding's, when someone launched themselves at him from behind.
“Ahhh!!!” The silhouette that was behind the old man flew threw the air like a panther, raising a sharp knife that was ready to cleave into the old man's spine. Even though his age was indeed a factor, his reactions were still manageable.
“Expelliarmus!” The old man shrieked while turning around as fast as he could, breaking the silence like a glass jar. He managed to throw the spell right when the silhouette was in mid air, blasting him back a couple of feet and disarming his knife. The old man's wand lit up again and shined onto the silhouette sitting with his back to the wall.
The silhouette appeared to be quite weary looking. His eyes had brown circles under them, and were somewhat puffy, making it seem like he was crying not too long ago. He had circular shaped glasses that were knocked down to the tip of his nose and long, straight, black hair that covered most of his forehead, where the old man noticed a tip of a scar. By his appearance, the guy looked much older than he really was. His face indicated that hadn't shaved in quite a long time and had acquired a short and messy beard that gave obvious signs of needing taking care of. He had on muggle clothes, a brown t-shirt, old pair of worn out jeans and some running shoes with a hole in the left one that showed his big toe.
“Who are you?! What do you want!?” The man with the glasses had barked with hostility at the light coming from the old man's wand.
“You must be James? James Harry?” The old man was acting cautious around the crazed younger man, trying to make himself sound as less threatening as possible.
“I'm not saying anything! You might as well kill me, you damned Death E...” The man in glasses had taken a pause in his speech after realizing the familiar lines in the old man's face, even though they had been distorted by the older age and endless running.
“I assure you, Mr. Harry, I have no relation to the Death eater's whatsoever.” The older man walked backwards and after picking up the knife sat on one of the wooden chairs. He pointed with his wand to the chair opposite of him and it moved from under the table. He nodded for the man in glasses to take a seat.
They sat there, looking each other in the eyes. One with unearthly happiness that he haven't experienced for a long time, the other with hatred and wishes for the old man to be gone from his cave, because the memories that he brought with his were haunting.
“Are you... Are you really...” The old man's voice was breaking off as tears had started rolling down his round cheeks.
“No, I'm not! I am not doing anything you ask me, you understand?! You might as well take your broom and fly yourself out of here because I am not doing anything!” The man in the glasses couldn't have shown any less hospitality, but the elder man didn't even pay attention to his words.
“Surely... You must recognize me... Don't you remember? Anything at all?” He looked deeply into the other man's eyes, hoping to find the brink of truth he was searching for.
“I wish I wouldn't remember anything, but how could I not?! The memories haunt me every day and every night and being alone only makes it so much worse! But then you had to show up and...” The man in the glasses had turned slightly red from the anger he was letting out.
“I know who you are... But you had us all fooled, even You-Know-Who is fooled completely... I can't, can't believe my own eyes...” The old man was now seemingly in total awe. His hand reached across the table to touch the arm of the man in glasses, making sure he was real.
“I don't know anything about Voldemort... I just want you to...” And then the man in the glasses had stumbled, realizing the mistake that came from so many years of talking to no one else but himself.
“I knew I could find you! Oh, sweet Merlin! The day had finally come, I was right after all!” The feeble man had jumped up from his chair, knocking it backwards with a loud thud, but he didn't care about the chair.
“Cornelius... Shut up!” The man in the glasses seemed to becoming mad beyond belief.
“You do remember me! I had searched so far and wide to find you, running from the Death Eaters and not sleeping for days and nights! I came to tell you how sorry I am for everything, you must accept my sincere apologies for everything that had happened, but I musk ask you to come back, come back to our world, we must try and stop him! All that is needed is you! Oh, please come back to us...” The man broke into slobbering tears from the joy that broke into his heart. His long searches and crackpot theories had finally payed off.
The man in the glasses, however, did not seem to share this joy at all. He silently clenched his teeth in disgust from looking at the man who brought too many memories into his jumbled and rotting mind that had been away from civilization for seven years. He slowly got up, while the older man was joyously laughing away the only laugh in their dark world. He tightly clenched his hand into a tight fist, while deciding on whether to do it or not. Then the memories lashed over his mind, giving him unpleasant goosebumps and eyes full of tears.
“Thud!” With a loudest noise, the man in the glasses wiped every little bit of happiness out of the elder man's slobbering face, by delivering the punch he saved in his heart since his fifth year in Hogwarts. The man fell a few feet back, managing to hold on to his wand but not being able to hold on to some of his old teeth. He looked up and spit blood out of his mouth.
“I probably deserved that, for all my mistakes. I had also predicted you would act like this...” The short-lived happiness was completely gone, absent from every face in the world. He slowly stood back up, keeping his distance.
“I probably deserved that, for all my mistakes. I had also predicted you would act like this...” The short-lived happiness was completely gone, absent from every face in the world. He slowly stood back up, keeping his distance.
“Yes, you did deserve it. Consider this getting off easily.” The man in the glasses had spoken from behind his gritted teeth, looking at the man with a curled lip signaling utmost disgust.
“This is why I decided to bring a few people. A few people that I'm sure you will be more glad to see than me.” The elder man stepped a few feet to the side, away from the entrance where two more light had surfaced out of the darkness. The two lights were a man and a woman holding up their wands. The man was quite tall, in his black robes. His hair was completely red and his face saved a few freckles that were from his Hogwarts years. He had a slightly dumbfounded expression on his face when he saw the man in the glasses. The pretty woman was the one holding the other light, was shorter than the man she was with. Her smart and perceiving look was complimented with her long hair that still, to this day, looked like a bird's nest.
“Hello there, Harry...” The red-headed guy broke the silence with a voice that was slightly different from what the man in glasses had remembered, but it still caused his voice to get lost in his throat.
“Long time no see...” The woman had continued with some staggered shock in her voice as she didn't take her eyes off the man in front of them for a second. Her voice did not change one bit and was still just the same as Harry had remembered from their high school years, from all the wonderful adventures they all had endured together.
“Yea Ron, I know. It's been seven years... Seven lonely and awful years that I had spend living like a prisoner in this cave. Seven years, Hermione... Seven unjust years during which I thought you all were dead...” The man in the glasses finally managed to utter some words out of his dry mouth. But then again, there was no need for any words. They were happily crying together, in the warm, friendly and welcoming arms of each other that they had missed and longed for in their dreams, between the nightmarish reality. There was no need for any more words, as the action of their beautiful and childishly innocent laughter was more than enough to break away from the world... A world that was forbidden to love... A world where happy laughter had vanished... A world where joyful smiles had been gone... A world where even the greatest of friends were gone...
...But never forgotten...
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