Not a single person looked at each other as the Hogwart's carriages travelled somberly towards the now forbiddingly dark castle on the cliff. Two months ago, the Wizarding World was finally conquered by Lord Voldemort, the most powerful dark wizard to walk the earth, and outright dictator of Great Britain.
Most of the Muggles were either exterminated or sent into slavery to the Death Eaters - the few who faught back were systematically eliminated and, as the Dark Lord announced himself to the Muggle world, most of Britain's allies broke ties and fortified their own borders.
None of that really mattered to Ginny Weasley right then - she was more focussed on the ten months of fear and hopelessness she was about to endure in that slowly nearing castle...
A small sob could be heard to the redhead's left - Ginny laid a light hand on Hermione's leg. Being a 'mudblood' Hermione was only permitted to live and attend school if she agreed to attend 'special' classes, separated from the rest of the 'pure' student body.
'Mudbloods' who accepted this lot were forced to take different classes, sleep in a haphazardly constructed dormitory erected just outside the Forbidden Forest, eat meals inside their dormitory whenever the Enforcers deemed neccessary, required to wear a gruesome tattoo on the arm of a naked, kneeling girl being devoured by a large snake and were not allowed to enter the castle without the escort of an Enforcer.
And those were only the more basic of the rules.
As the carriages pulled up, one by one, to the steps of the Entrance Hall, Ginny hugged a crying Hermione one last time before she was dragged away, along with several other students, towards the grounds as the rest of the student body were herded through the great, dark doors of Hogwarts. |