Amulet of Time 2: Two Worlds, Two Wars

Chapter 20: The Camp

" Poland? We can't go to Poland! We have school! We'll miss our lessons!"

Ron looked at Hermione, incredulous. They were being held prisoner in Germany, and were being shipped off to Poland in the morning, and she was worrying about missing lessons.

" Hermione, how can you think about school at a time like this? We have more important things to think about, like how to get out of here."

" Get out? You cannot escape. There are guards and fences all the way around, and Grossrosen is more heavily defended than even here. There is no escape."

" Who are you?" the redhead asked the strange woman, " And how do you know where we're going? What is Grossrosen anyway?"

" I am Yanika, a gypsy from Czechoslovakia. I know where we are going because the guards came in earlier to tell us, knowing the information will fill us with dread. Grossrosen in a forced labour camp in Poland, where the Nazis send people such as us, gypsies, resistance fighters, Jews and prisoners of war."

" You mean we're going to a concentration camp!" Hermione screeched.

" What's a concentration camp?" Ron asked.

" It's a place the Nazis sent people they wanted rid of, such as prisoners and ethnic minorities. They're most famous for what happened to the Jews. It's what's known as the holocaust. I read about it in a Muggle book once. Yanika, did you say it was a labour camp?"

" Yes."

" It's bad, but at least it's not a death camp."

" Death camp!" Ron exclaimed, a look of horror on his face.

" Yes, some of the camps were for forced labour, some were where people were taken to be slaughtered. Some acted as both. While people died frequently in labour camps, the death toll wasn't nearly as high as for the death camps. Ron, we have to get out of here."

" Really? I thought we could stay a while, enjoy the sights."

" Ron! When did you become so sarcastic? You sound like Snape!"

" About the time I was thrown in a Muggle prison, and don't insult me like that. I'm nothing like the greasy git."

" Alright, I'm sorry. Let's think about this rationally. We can't use magic, and that means we can't change into our animagus forms. We're being held prisoner, and are going to be sent to a labour camp in the morning. We don't know how we got here, or what happened after the battle. We also don't know where Harry and Ginny are."

" That seems like an awful lot of things we can't do and don't know."

" Alright, what do we know…there's no visible way to escape, but they have to move us from the anti-magic field to take us to Poland…"

" That will not work."

The two sixteen year olds turned to the young woman. It suddenly occurred to them that they had been discussing magic in front of her. Seeing realisation and worry spreading over their faces, she simply smiled at them gently.

" Do not worry. I am a witch, and graduated from Hogwarts several years ago. I will say nothing to the Muggles. However, I can tell you that the Nazis have been thorough. I assume you took part in a battle?"

" Yes, there was an attack in Paris. We were part of a resistance group fighting Grindelwald's followers. We cast a powerful spell, and we, along with our two friends, collapsed in exhaustion. The next thing we knew, we were here."

" I see. If your friends were unconscious, then it is likely they were taken as well. You see, part of the alliance between Grindelwald and Hitler, is that the Dark Lord will gain Muggle weapons of mass destruction, if the Führer is provided with magical aid. This includes anti-magic fields in the camps and trains, so that wizarding resistance fighters can be sent here. There is no way a witch or wizard would be able to escape if they were reduced to Muggle level."