Diana Potter and the Hunger Games

The Beginning

TW: mentions of blood and gore

~*~

Diana Potter took a deep breath of cool air, a soft breeze hitting her face. Despite it being the beginning of July, it was rather cool. She looked out the open window of her dorm room, trying to see past the last remnants of the American wizarding world.

"Diana, come on, we're going to be late!" a soft voice called.

Diana turned away from the window with a sigh and climbed down from the nook, landing with a thump on the maroon rug. She looked at her best friend, Josie Weasley, wondering if the red-headed girl felt that wistful call to what was beyond the walls of their home. She knew better than to ask. The first and only time she had, Josie and her other friend, Halley Malfoy, both said the same thing: "We know what's beyond there, Dy, evil people. They'll kill you the second they get a chance."

Of course, they were right. Videos of the Hunger Games were enough to make anyone frightened of Panem.

Diana grabbed her bookbag and followed Josie into the common room every student from 6th year shared, regardless of house. People said it didn't use to be that way... now it had to be.

Halley stood by the door to the corridor with a hand on her hip and her pale lips pulled into a thin line. "Took you long enough. We're going to be late for potions," she said.

The girls were about halfway to their classroom when the screaming started. They shared a look, Josie's normally pink face going stark white. "Oh no," she whimpered.

Rushed footsteps echoed throughout the halls, forcing students to hug to the walls to let Headmaster Wallace pass with most of the professors following closely behind.

Diana eyed the wands they held at the ready as they passed her. She met Headmaster Wallace's eye and knew it was another attack. Of course it is, she thought.

"... a breach on the north side..." a boy was whispering to another student.

"Follow me," Diana said to her friends, walking away before they had a chance to object. She turned down an empty corridor that was lacking efficient lighting, took ten steps, turned to the left, and pressed her wand to the stone. After muttering a few random words she wasn't entirely sure she understood, the stones moved and rearranged until there was a thin passage that led to an equally small staircase.

"How did you know this was here?" Halley questioned, lighting her wand with a flick of her wrist. Diana and Josie followed suit, exposing damp moss on the sides of the passage.

Diana shrugged. "I was bored."

Josie and Halley were used to her vague explanations, so they didn't push.

The girls ran down the many flights of damp stairs for a good five minutes before landing at a dead end. Once again, Diana placed her wand against the stone, whispered the spell, and watched an exit appear in the stone.

They made it into the courtyard, the Snakewood tree only a few feet in front of them. Crouching down and looking down at the little wizarding community, they watched as witches and wizards rushed back and forth. The alarm from the MACUSA Headquarters echoed from the middle of town, forcing a light throbbing headache to begin in the back of Diana's head.

The wizarding community had diminished throughout the world wars and civil wars until all was left was a tiny fifty-acre town the witches and wizards could call home. Ilvermorny, one of the last standing wizarding schools besides Hogwarts and Koldovstoretz, was perched upon the highest peak on Mount Greylock. Below the school were the homes, stores, government buildings—everything the wizarding community needed to keep living.