"My half-brother arranged for me to go to Hogwarts for my final few months. Then the war. In the terms of the histories of those days, it would be a rebellion between the Auld Garde and the rebels in the Ministry. In New Wave terms it was a war between the Auld Garde and Ministry; which of them won was a matter of extreme indifference. When the rebellion bled over into the Muggle World and bodies stacked up, I was ordered by the party to enlist with the Garde. I gave my name as Peter. They were shouting for victory all over the Wizarding World, praying for victory to the same Wizardly saints and the same God. My task, the party's task, was to organize defeat. From defeat would spring the revolution where we could help the Muggles and vice versa; the revolution would be victory for the New Wave. The party looked to the young muggle-borns and the other conscripts. Most of them were in their first good pair of shoes. When the shoes wore out they'd be ready to listen. When the time came, I was able to take fifty students with me and desert to the third faction: ours. It was the best single day's work I ever did. But for the moment, there was nothing to be done. Too many volunteers to preserve the old ways, like me. But there were sorcerers on both sides with better motives, those who saw the times were critical and wanted to help. Good people wasted. Unhappy too. Unhappy with everything and doubting themselves. The happy refuse to volunteer. They wait their turn and thank Merlin if their age or work delays it. The ones who got back to their homes at the price of an eye, or an arm, or a leg. These were the lucky ones. Even the most realistic amongst us underestimated both the anguish of that terrifying war and our cursed capacity for suffering, especially in Britain. By the second winter of that war, their shoes had worn out, but it went on. Our robes fell to pieces on our backs. Our rations were irregular. Most of us went into action without wands and we used Muggle weapons. We were led by those we didn't trust. Those the students did trust died... at rather convenient moments for the party. At last, we began to do what everyone dreamed of doing. We began to go home and that was the beginning of the revolution..."
YOU ARE READING
Doctor Malfoy
FanfictionThe life of an English wizard physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during the Third Wizarding War and then the Great Revolution.
