Snapshots
November 18, 1998,
It had taken a lot of work to get to this point. Mostly on the squibs' parts, true, but still, much time and effort had been put in to ensure this outcome.
The squibs had traveled to Australia the muggle way, spending tens of hours on their flying contraptions, entrusting themselves to technology over oceans.
Then they'd been forced to find the Australian magical community, itself a daunting task.
The Australian witches and wizards had preferred building their homes in the Outback to hiding amongst muggles, using weather charms to allow themselves to survive the otherwise unbearable conditions.
The squibs had slowly infiltrated, posing as refugees fleeing the war.
Then they'd had to find the Australian wizards who agreed with the Death Eaters, and who would be willing to betray their countrymen.
That too had taken time.
But they had done it.
After that, it was simply a matter of coordinating attacks, waging a war which the government could not win, driving them further and further into desperation and fear.
Lord Voldemort moved His wand an inch.
The quill flew up from the table, directly into the hand of Timothy Brandt, Australian Minister for Magic.
"Sign", He hissed.
And with trembling fingers, Timothy pushed quill to parchment, signing Australia's unconditional surrender.
June 8, 2001
Sobhuza Mbetwe snarled, his hand curling into a tight fist.
"Were we not under a truce meeting," he growled, all but spitting at the young man opposite him, "I would-"
"Yes, yes," Harry Potter said, smiling widely and waving a hand negligently, "you would do something horribly violent to me. Or try to, at least. But we are under a truce, aren't we?"
Sobhuza just gritted his teeth.
Harry sighed, idly scratching at a long scar along his cheek before talking.
"Now. You and your people have fought well. My lord offers His congratulations for that. Whatever happens, you'll go down in history as those who lasted the longest. But the fight ends now"
"We shall never-"
"Shut the fuck up. We have your grandchildren. Now, you might be prepared for them to die. But are you prepared for what we will actually do to them?"
He hesitated. Just for a second, but that proved to be long enough for the mad smile to return to Potter's face.
"Crabbe! Bring her in!"
The door opened, and a hulking, brutish figure of a man walked in.
Pulling a naked woman on a leash.
He could only stare, as she was led into the room.
One of her eyes was missing, and one of her arms was gone from the elbow down.
But what drew his eye were the scars all over her body, the crisscrossing whip marks, the word carved into her chest.
But even more than that was the look of utter obedience on her face.
' Worse than a House-Elf'
He looked at her rounded belly and shivered, trying not to allow himself to imagine the circumstances under which this poor girl could have conceived.
Potter followed his eyes and laughed, shrill and cold.
"Whore, tell Mr. Mbetwe how many children you've given birth to"
When she spoke, he realized with a cold shock that she didn't have any teeth.
"Three, sir"
"Are you allowed to spend any time with them, whore?"
"No, sir"
"And why not?" Potter asked, cruel amusement filling his words.
"They don't need to have a worthless, disgusting whore like me for a mother"
The words were delivered in a dead, robotic tone.
"Thank you, Crabbe. Take the whore and go"
She almost fell, when the thug pulled the leash sharply.
She quickly recovered her equilibrium though, and left on shaking legs.
"Now, you might even be able to leave your granddaughters to that fate. Who knows, right? But you won't gain anything"
"Africa-"
"Will fall, very soon. Shut up and listen. We control the entire world besides your stinking continent. And we control the muggle militaries as well. We've gotten rid of most of their nuclear bombs, but we've kept some. Enough to send entire Africa to hell"
His eyes widened.
"You wouldn't" he whispered.
And unbelievably, Potter laughed.
"We're going to. We don't want to, but we will. Look, we want Africa to be part of our new world. You guys have magical arts we don't, you've got a whole genetic pool we'd love to tap into, and you have centuries worth of history and knowledge. We don't want to utterly destroy you. But we will. We fucking will"
"You-"
"We will, Mbetwe. We will. And afterward, we'll perform the Atlantis ritual. Apparently, it'll take ten thousand sacrifices, and my Lord Himself will have to power it, but we'll do it. We'll destroy Africa, and then we'll sink it. Trust me, we don't want to. It might have some seriously shitty effects on the rest of the world. But if we have to, we will. And we'll keep your granddaughters and all the other captives so that your genetic material isn't entirely lost to us"
He tried to shout, but it only emerged as a frightened, horrified whisper. "You would destroy the world"
Potter just shrugged. "Our researchers don't think so. They say that if the ritual's performed correctly, it should have minimal negative effects. My Lord concurs. We will do it, I assure you"
Potter's voice changed, became a wheedling, beckoning tone.
"Surrender, and the fighting stops, all the captives get returned to you, all of your actions get forgiven, and you join the Empire. Continue fighting, and we will eradicate you. Choose"
Looking into the insane eyes opposite him, Sobhuza could easily believe that they would destroy Africa, would risk destroying the world, rather than leaving it out of their clutches.
With tears in his eyes and a heavy heart, Sobhuza spoke.
"We will surrender"
April 1, 2002
He cradled him gently, marveling over how soft, how small he was.
His newborn, firstborn son.
It was absurd, that he, with his hands so bloodstained, with his soup torn to shreds, could have created something so beautiful, so wondrous.
"He's perfect" he murmured, one finger softly rubbing his son's belly.
Daphne smiled at him, looking exhausted and resplendent.
"He is," she replied, taking a proffered potion from one of the nurses, "and he's ours. God, can you believe it?"
He just shook his head, looking into his son's bright green eyes as he slowly rocked him in his arms.
"Our little Damien"
July 12, 2004
It was a scene echoed everywhere in the world. At least, everywhere with a sizable wizarding population.
Harry and Daphne stood near the large window on the top floor of the Dark Lord's manor house. Damien was curled up on one of the couches, exhausted after running around the grounds the whole morning. But they stood, along with the rest of the higher ranking Death Eaters, with the Dark Lord sitting on His throne, and they watched as fighter jets flew through the air and explosions rocked the grounds.
The manor and its grounds had been buffeted with every protective spell known to wizardkind, giving the sky a purplish tinge.
As, of course, had Diagon and Knockturn, Hogsmeade, and any central meeting point for masses of witches or wizards.
Anyone who wanted to watch the Imperius'd muggle militaries turn on their own kind would have a place to safely watch from.
"And after the bombs," the Dark Lord said, "the tanks. Then the soldiers. Rupert?"
Rupert stepped forward, shaking out of his reverie and coughing into a fist before talking.
"We estimate that within two years, we will be able to get eighty percent of the muggles in urban areas. At that point, My Lord, we believe the military will have served their use, and we will be able to send our own squads to finish the job. Of course, we can not assume we will get them all. Rats always find a way to hide"
The Dark Lord stroked His chin thoughtfully. "That they do. What of those in rural areas?"
Rupert swallowed.
"We-we cannot be certain, my lord. But we think it will take ten years to achieve with them what we achieve in the cities in one"
The Dark Lord said nothing, only smiling slightly as a large explosion rocked the village below.
"They-in the rural areas, my lord, they have learned how to-to live off of the land. The-the destruction of their civilization will not shatter them as it will those in the cities"
"And in the other countries?"
"It-it is hard to say exactly, my lord. In the-the third world counties, we-we can expect them to last longer. But-but even there, twenty-five years, and-and they should be severely endangered. And the-the Sterility Potions, they're working. Aerosolizing them didn't affect their effectiveness, so there won't be another generation of muggles. We are looking at the end of the muggle race, my lord"
Voldemort chuckled, and when He did, many of his loyal followers did as well.
The laughter woke up Damien, and Daphne quickly hushed him before he could begin to cry.
"The end?" Voldemort asked. "No, Rupert. Merely the end of their sovereignty"
November 27, 2006
Blaise gently placed a single black rose in front of the tombstone before standing and putting his hand on the cool marble.
"Well. Happy death-day, Theo. I hope you're happy, wherever the hell you are. Ten years, mate. Ten years without you. Hard to believe it"
Birds sang as they flew. The sky was clear, the sun weak, and the birds still sang.
As if Theo wasn't still dead.
"I still-I still miss you. I still love you. And I-I still-I still feel like I'm betraying you, sometimes. I'll look over at Horatio, and think what the fuck am I doing. And then I'll remember. And it hurts. But I-I still have to live. We have a kid now, me and Horatio. A little boy"
He began to cry softly.
"His name-he's Theo. He just turned six. He's brilliant. Perfect. And he-he should have been ours"
He rubbed his eyes furiously, pausing his speech for a moment.
"We're thinking about trying to get another one. They've been putting all pressure on people, to have as many kids as possible. Giving money, and land and stuff. Harry-they've already got two. So's Draco. And Andrea, she got married. To Alaine. Crazy, but they did it. He works with Horatio, in the Department of Mysteries. They think they'll be able to give squibs magic. I know. I know. It's crazy. But the Dark Lord-the Emperor, now, He's set on it. And they're doing all this crazy shit, and I'm still working with Harry. We're still Death Eaters. Only now that means Secret Police"
He lit up a cigarette, blue smoke filling the air until a gust of wind scattered it.
"It's fun, I guess. And it's definitely prestigious. That's for sure. We've had to deal with one real threat. Some group in Wales, they just wouldn't shut up about injustice and shit. The rest of the time, it's just investigating. And getting information and names from people"
He glanced at his watch, grimacing.
"I-I need to go. Horatio's working late today, so I've got to pick up Theo. I-I still love you. I guess I always will"
He took one last lingering look at the tombstone before spinning on the spot, apparating away with a loud crack.
January 1, 2007
She walked the streets like a lonely ghost, her pale hair hanging behind her, giving her the appearance of a specter.
She hadn't been out much, the last two years or so. She had no interest in being a part of the jeering crowds, watching as helpless muggles were forced to kill their own people.
And then, with her father's illness, she'd been practically stuck at home nursing him, with the exception of a few trips to Diagon for medicine and supplies.
Those had been terrible. On the last trip, she'd seen Harry Potter. He was there, walking calmly along with his wife and two sons.
The happy family seemed oblivious to the frightened glances shot their way, to the way people had jumped out of their path.
But Harry had seen her, and had smiled, and made a beeline to her.
She'd smiled politely as she was introduced to his children, somehow managing to ignore the impulse to just shout at him with everything she had.
And he'd smiled, and told her how he was responsible for her imprisonment that horrible year, how he'd requested that she not be killed or tortured like the rest of Neville's friends and family.
And she had smiled and thanked him.
And now, Luna felt more alone than she ever had in her life.
True, her father was doing better. But somehow, she wished he wasn't. Not that he was dead or anything, not that. Just, that when he was still ill, she was busy looking after him.
Now, she had nothing to do.
And all of her friends, few though they had been, were dead.
She shuddered, thinking of the horrible rumors she'd heard about Ginny.
She hoped she was dead. She hoped Ginny was dead and with the rest of her family, rather than what she had heard.
She tried not to look at the ruined buildings around her. She'd always found a stark beauty in them, in the gray towers.
Now they had enormous holes in them, and they were empty, devoid of life.
Eventually, her wandering ended, and she found herself on the edge of a bridge, looking down on a raging river below.
Even in the dark of night, she could see the black shapes of the large stones, ten meters below her.
' A fall from here would kill even a witch'
She thought about what it would be like, in the next life. How she would see her mother again, and all of her friends.
And she closed her eyes, preparing to take the step.
"Miss? Are you all right? Miss?!"
The words, spoken in slightly accented English, were just enough to pull her back from the edge.
She leaned back against the railing and didn't look around, still keeping her eyes tightly closed.
"I used to think," she said, "that the world was a wonderful place, full of joy and laughter. And now I wonder why it even carries on spinning. Humans don't deserve it"
Slowly, she swung her head around.
The man standing there couldn't have been much older than her, and yet she was certain he hadn't been at Hogwarts.
He looked at her thoughtfully, seeming to turn the words over in his mind before speaking.
"Animals do" he finally said.
"What's your favorite animal?" She asked, still staring at him intently.
"Depends. Favorite magical creature would have to be a Demiguise. My grandfather had one. He was a lovely little thing"
"And non-magical?"
He smiled, his teeth bright in the darkness.
"A three-toed sloth. What about you?"
"Nargles," she said. "Nargles and emperor penguins. Although I don't like that name anymore"
He nodded.
"Sorry, Miss, but it's making me a bit uncomfortable. Do you-do you mind stepping over the railing, please?"
And she did, vaulting over it with a giggle.
She was shocked to realize that it was the first time she had spontaneously laughed in years.
And she realized right then, how empty her life had been without it.
She walked over to him, pulling her cloak tight against the cold wind.
"I must thank you," she said, "I was going to do something very foolish"
This close to him, she could make out his features.
Something about them rang a bell in her mind. Something about his jawline, his nose, made her think of happiness and relaxation.
He looked at her with soft eyes.
TBC--------