The Rebirth of the Wizarding World

Prologue

A/n: Co-written with MilliePearce16 and animelovers13, go check them out!

"Jack where the hell do you think you're going? The exit's the other way!" He ignored the shouts and commotion around him as a tide of green and black threatened to push him away from his destination. The castle was in ruins already and it seemed like not enough of Voldemort's forces were the ones lying dead around him. As the crowd of Slytherins thinned his pace slowed to a laboured jog as he came up to the ground levels of the castle. He knew he was probably one of the only ones in his house stupid enough to join the fighting on the losing side, but he ignored that part of his brain in favour of navigating the unrecognisable corridors to where he hoped the great hall might still be standing.

Jack could still hear the threatening whisper of Lord Voldemort's warning echo in his ringing ears. He didn't know how he would feel if Harry Potter turned himself into the depths of the forest as the Dark Lord had negotiated. Maybe it wound only made them as stupid as each other.

The bodies lying on the floor were becoming more and more frequent as he grew closer to the centre of the castle and he stumbled to a halt when he saw a shuffle of movement out of the corner of his eye. Jack inched carefully over a mound of rubble next to the remains of the wall it used to be, coughing thickly at the dust in the air. A small grunt came from the body when his foot dislodged a couple of stones, and there slumped against the mound was the figure of a girl. She was completely still aside from the quick and shallow rise and fall of her chest, and it was impossible to tell how serious her injuries were due to the thick coat of grime and dust over every inch of her skin and the fact that both her right arm and leg were underneath the remains of the wall.

Jack couldn't seem to get himself to move at the sight before him, and only when a startlingly rattling breath wheezed through her chest did he come out of his stupor. Preying that she wouldn't recognise his face in her semi-conscious state, he crouched beside her and gently started removing the rubble from her limbs. She made no inclination of awareness that he was there and for a closer look at her face he noticed blonde hair and what would have been a pale complexion beneath the dirt and cuts littering her features. Her arm was bent crooked and her leg was probably broken but it wasn't notably disfigured.

Another rattling breath scraped through her windpipe and she groaned slightly louder than before as Jack gently lifted her and set off again for the great hall at a more lagging pace. Why was he doing this again when the rest of his house was either leaving Hogwarts altogether or joining the other side? Right because he'd had it with his traditional pureblood father and his traditional pureblood values. If he was so uptight about it why did he go and have Jack with some muggle woman?

The great hall had a sort of solemn but chaotic tension in the air. Friends and family were huddled in groups; some around bodies which were a variety of the stone cold and lifeless, and the sleepy and bandaged. Lined up where the teachers table previously stood, under various covers were outlines of the fallen.

Since the population of this particular room would likely not be happy with his presence he decided to set the girl down at the edge of where selections of other casualties were being treated. Her breath didn't rattle this time, not a puff of air brushed against his neck when he laid her quietly on the floor. What could he do now? A Slytherin crouched next to the body of one of the 'good guys' would likely not be taken kindly.

However, Jack had no chance to turn away before a thump sounded next to him as someone fell to their knees by the now lifeless body.

"Rose. Oh Rose..." a girl with blonde hair identical to the dead girl's put a shaking hand on her grimy lifeless cheek. Her voice sounded wet and tears streaked through the dust and dirt on her face. Her eyes flickered briefly to Jack and he was startled to see a pleading look in them.